KUALA LUMPUR: Budget 2024 was presented with errors and these were only corrected after opposition MPs pointed out the discrepancies, claims Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainudin.
He alleged that the corrections issued by the government after the Budget 2024 details were questioned, involved about RM4bil or 1% of the whole spending plan.
At a media conference here yesterday, Hamzah showed a letter from the office of Deputy Finance Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Maslan to MPs dated Oct 17 which stated that there were corrections to Page 231 on the items of indirect tax comprising excise duties and service tax, which contribute to the total Federal Government revenue.
The letter noted that in the Budget 2024 book released on Oct 13 – of which the content was read out by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim in Parliament that day – the total revenue was published as RM308,084,005,000.
The figure should be RM312,159,005,000, the letter said.
The difference of about RM4bil between the two figures came from corrections to the indirect tax, which comprises excise duties, service tax and import duty.
In the corrections, excise duties is now RM1,148,500,000 and service tax is RM3,450,000,000; import duty remains as it is – RM100,000,000.
The letter stated that these amendments then led to a correction in the sum of indirect tax, which is now RM4,698,500,000.
The sum contributes to a net revenue gain of RM4,559,005,000, which then puts the Federal Government revenue at a total of RM312,159,005,000, it said.
Hamzah said Ahmad Maslan apologised for the errors in the letter to the MPs.
However, Hamzah said he was not calling for the invalidation of the Budget 2024 as it had already been passed by Parliament.
“I am pointing out the government’s lack of preparedness before the presentation of Budget 2024 to the nation,” added the Bersatu secretary-general.
Also present at the press conference at the opposition party’s headquarters here were Opposition chief whip Datuk Seri Takiyuddin Hassan and other opposition MPs such as Datuk Seri Dr Radzi Jidin, Datuk Seri Dr Shahidan Kassim, Wan Ahmad Fahysal Wan Ahmad Kamal and Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah.
Hamzah also questioned Anwar, who is also the Finance Minister, for “afterthought remedies” upon being questioned by the Opposition.
“A budget should have been done in detail with much engagement with others as it is an important document to the country and, once presented, it provides the right impact.
“For the first time in history, the opposition MPs received a backdated letter on Oct 23, post-Budget 2024 presentation, stating that there were corrections to Budget 2024, which was presented on Oct 13.
“Why did the government issue a letter of corrections as an afterthought?
“Why only come up with the corrections after I had asked on Oct 16 for an explanation on the 2% increase in sales and service tax (SST)? Did the Finance Ministry not engage the relevant industries?” asked the Opposition Leader.
Last week in the Dewan Rakyat, Ahmad explained the alleged errors, saying that the Cabinet agreed at noon on Oct 13 to increase the service tax rate from 6% to 8% and they did not have enough time to print the fiscal review document before the tabling of the Budget at 4pm that day.
Ahmad said the move would bring in an estimated increase in revenue of RM3.45bil to the government.
“We had made the corrections and the documents distributed to all 222 MPs in the Dewan Rakyat were the correct version.
“The document made available on the Finance Ministry website had been amended earlier so we did not have to notify the MPs.
“The Budget 2024 speech also did not have any errors,” he had said.
