Posted in Economics on October 2nd, 2012 1 Comment »
Among all the local newspapers in Malaysia, I reserve my utmost respect for The Edge. Unlike other papers, it has critical analyses and is less susceptible to explicit political bias. The Star and the New Straits Times (the NST especially) are political hacks. Others like the The Sun which can be objective more than once are [...]
Posted in Economics on July 25th, 2012 1 Comment »
Several new points were raised with regards to my post on duties and cars yesterday. One was pollution, two was government revenue and three, in one way or another, income effect. It is not exactly income effect but close enough. Concern number one is easy. But let us state the pollution concern. The concern is [...]
Posted in Economics on July 24th, 2012 3 Comments »
I advocate the abolition, or at least a significant reduction of import duties (and other excessive taxes) on cars as well as the abolition of the approved permits system that blow up the prices of foreign-manufactured cars to an outrageous level. This should come at no surprise because I am a libertarian. I do generally support freer [...]
Posted in Economics on July 19th, 2012 2 Comments »
The Prime Minister finally launched a private pension fund. I am supportive of the idea of private and voluntary pension fund, but I am not going to discuss that here. What I find interesting rather is that contributors to the private fund are entitled to RM3,000 tax relief in a year. This raises one question: [...]
Posted in Economics on May 6th, 2010 No Comments »
Holding all else constant, I do not like tax. I do not think, too many people actually like paying tax. I only rationalize the need for paying tax by holding on to classical rationale for the need of the state: that there is externality. The state is there to protect individual liberty which, generally, cannot [...]
Posted in Economics on March 13th, 2010 5 Comments »
Opponents of the introduction of goods and services tax (GST) in Malaysia have raised a number of points. Some of the points are valid even if they are disagreeable. Sometimes, the disagreement is ideological and difference is due to premises originating from separate irreconcilable positions. Those points are fine because at least they are logical [...]
Posted in Economics on December 3rd, 2009 3 Comments »
The Malaysian government is planning to introduce goods and services tax to replace sales tax as well as service tax in 2011. I generally prefer consumption tax to income tax because one, it somewhat accounts for externality related to consumption (making it a close cousin to my favorite tax, carbon tax) and two, it is [...]
Posted in Economics on November 29th, 2009 3 Comments »
Since the latest fad in Malaysia is the goods and services tax, I thought I should share my limited knowledge on the matter. I am not an tax expert but I know my microeconomics and welfare analysis sufficiently enough to have an informed opinion on the matter. Those that have done basic microeconomics will appreciate [...]
Posted in Economics, Politics & government on November 3rd, 2009 No Comments »
With respect to the proposed implementation of the goods and services tax, MP Liew Chin Tong said: “This is a huge sum for a study. The Finance Ministry should explain what kind of study this is, who is conducting it and which consultancy firm is handling the study. “The idea of implementing this kind of [...]
Posted in Economics, Politics & government on June 17th, 2009 No Comments »
The consistent fiscal deficit the federal government currently experiences is an issue far removed from everyday life. For many, it is an abstraction without concrete consequences. Hence, it is highly unlikely that the issue will be able to capture public attention and directly become a determinant in any election. This gives the federal government too [...]
The name is Hafiz Noor Shams.
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