COMMENT | Tax the rich more to improve healthcare, education

COMMENT | Budget 2025 has been tabled in Parliament. It happens to be the biggest budget ever in the history of Malaysia, but that isn’t surprising.

The biggest budget in the history of Malaysia is always the latest budget. I don’t think there has ever been a time when the latest budget did not top the last budget.

But I may be wrong. You can check Kini News Lab to be sure because their excellent data journalism leaves no stone unturned!

The budget is also said to be a budget for the people. Again, when has there ever been a budget that was not claimed to be for the people?

Anyway, there are a few things in the budget that I feel contradict the fact that it is supposed to be a budget for the people. Let’s see if I can identify and explain it to everyone. Then, we’ll see if everyone agrees with me or not.

Firstly, the new budget has determined that the T15 group of Malaysians will have to pay extra for public healthcare. Since they are considered high-income earners, they can afford to pay more.

This is also the same for education. This same T15 group will have to pay more for their children who are in elite boarding schools like Mara Junior Science Colleges (MRSM) and fully residential schools (SBP).

I understand that from the government’s point of view, this is basically taxing the rich and not the poor. However, I feel that the better method would be to...