budget 2008 with my brief views

so how do you find the budget 2008? good? bad? no comment? nothing for me? same old story? well at least one thing i know very well of the ‘same old story’ is how the BN ministers praised and gave only good/positive comments on the budget. every year like that lah, year in, year out, after the budget was announced, the BN ministers were interviewed what were their thoughts on the budget, they only have good things to say. ok ok i know. you will sure say of course lah, they must support the PM, so  naturally they gave only positive comments. oh well… what to do….

sun2surf had a good write-up of the budget goodies at a glance (picture here taken from there). do take a look.

let’s see which part of the budget i can make some noises. 🙂

Individual tax relief of a maximum of RM300 a year for purchase of sports and exercise equipments, in addition to current relieves of health insurance premium and medical expenses.

wow. so the gomen is encouraging us to exercise and be healthy? what kind of sports and exercise equipment i wonder. does a yonex racquet counts? a tennis ball? i guess individuals who happens to be owners of sports equipment shops will benefit from this tax relief!

Allowance increase for disabled workers from RM200 to RM300 and special assistance of RM300 per month for eligible persons taking care of the disabled, who are bed-ridden and patients suffering from chronic illness.

so the gomen is compassionate after all?

Text Book Loan Scheme provided to all students beginning the 2008 school session, irrespective of incomes and restrictions on the number of eligible children, benefitting 5.7 million students.

well, good… but i guess some rich parents might want their children to own the books instead of having the books on loan.

One free uniform for one uniformed activity for school students who are from families earning a monthly income of below RM1,000.

very good. i remember a poor family we (the members of the society of st vincent de paul) help, the daughter wanted to join the red crescent society but the parents can’t afford to buy the uniform for her so she dropped out of the society. since she was very interested in the society, we told her we will pay for the uniform for her. if this was enforced earlier, we would have save up on our fund.

Primary and secondary schools funded and well-managed by trust and charitable bodies will be tax-exempted, benefitting Chinese, Tamil and religious schools.

if this is really carried out, good as indeed many chinese schools are managed by trust and charitable bodies.

Stamp duty exemption of 50% on transfer documents for the purchase of a house not more than RM250,000 per unit, thus reducing costs by up to RM2,000, effective for sale and purchase agreements executed from Sept 6, 2007 – Dec 31, 2010.

sounds good.

Government will establish RM50 million guarantee funds to Bank Simpanan Nasional and Bank Islam Berhad, effective Jan 1 to enable home ownership among the low income group without fixed income.

why these 2 banks?

Import duty and sales tax exemptions to be given on broadband equipment and consumer access devices which are basic in providing the broadband services and manufactured abroad – approved by the Malaysian Industrial Development Authority.

broadband equipment? is modem consider broadband equipment? what else?

Tax deduction be given to employers on benefits in kind in the form of new computers and payment of broadband subscription fees for employees. Such benefits in kind received by the employees will also be tax exempted.

the first part i understand (new computers) but the second part (broadband subscription fees) i don’t quite understand. i thought usually it is the office (employers) that pays for the subscription to broadband, not the individual employees. i mean with just one subscription, the whole office can access broadband right? that’s what happens in our office.

these are just a few points i picked up to comment. don’t forget to read all the points from sun2surf, ok? oh yeah, malaysiakini too has a good write-up like sun2surf. i will give you the budget report from malaysiakini later on.