The days of subsidised petrol are coming to an end, for certain sections of society. The government's ongoing petrol subsidy rationalisation programme is currently under study and the implementation will involve the MyKad, Deputy Finance Minister Datuk Ahmad Maslan told reporters today.
Those belonging to the 'high-income group' will have to pay the full market price for RON 95 petrol - RM2.58 per litre at current prices. However, individuals classified under the 'low-income group' will continue to fill their tanks at the current subsidised rate of RM2.30 per litre. This dual-pricing will start in June 2015.
"For the middle class, some will still enjoy the subsidised rate," the minister said, adding that it did not make sense for those driving luxury cars to enjoy 75 litres of subsidised petrol for each refill, versus 7.5 litres for the low-income group. He meant to draw comparison between the tank size of a big SUV/luxury sedan with a motorcycle.
Since targeted subsidies will be directed to sections of the rakyat via MyKad, we can safely assume that our identity cards will in the future not just show who we are, where we live and how we look like, but will incorporate data from LHDN showing how much we earn as well.
Earlier this month, the price of RON 95 petrol went up by 20 sen to RM2.30 per litre. Diesel also saw the same quantum of increase, from RM2.00 to RM2.20 per litre. The Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs said then (October 2) that the actual market price was RM2.58 per litre for RON 95 and RM2.52 for diesel. This means that the current subsidy rate is 28 sen per litre for petrol and 32 sen for diesel.
In Budget 2015, tabled on October 10, PM Datuk Seri Najib Razak announced that RON 95, diesel and LPG will be exempted from the Goods and Services Tax (GST) that will come into effect in April 2015.
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