Excuse me Mr. Prime Minister

Mr. Prime Minister,

I think honestly, you were doing a decent rescue job of the government of the day after the fiasco of the past administration. The overuse of the 1Malaysia branding aside (which incidentally spawned 1Toilet) is probably something I can live with – I’ll just “close one eye (and ear)” to paraphrase a former MP.

However you should realise by now that in Malaysia it is what affects the rakyat that draws our attention and the biggest thing to affect the rakyat is your introduction of the RM50 service tax on credit cards in the 2010 Budget.

Its no use being peevish and telling us we should look at the benefits we will receive when we will ultimately zero in on the 1 item that impacts on our lifestyle the most. I speak for myself. I don’t care about the millions and billions you plan to spend on various activities or departments. I will not derive personal benefit from that – no millions or billions will enter my pocket (I speak not for those for whom the millions and billions might enter their pockets).

I also don’t care about those who are paying 27% income tax – if they can afford to pay the 27% income tax they can bloody well afford the RM50 service tax on credit cards. But what about the man on the street who isn’t paying the 27% income tax? He has no benefit from the 2010 Budget. The man on the street who might be earning just about enough to pay the minimum income tax? RM50 is a lot of money to have to pay for the privilege to own a piece of plastic that you Mr. Prime Minister must agree is now necessity rather than a luxury.

Mr. Prime Minister, you should never have gotten between a man (or woman) and their credit cards. We do not know how we will benefit from the 2010 Budget at this point. We will not receive cash from the Government under the 2010 Budget but we KNOW that we will have to PAY this RM50 for the privilege of owning a credit card.

Mr. Prime Minister, you may not realise this as you zoom by in your official car with outriders clearing your path before you; but as a Rakyat I do not feel safe walking the streets of the city so I do not carry cash – you might like to try it some time. I depend on the credit card or cards as maybe and now you want to be my Daddy and police my spending patterns by controlling my cards. Like a teen, I will rebel.

And I will rebel by cutting up my credit cards. Mr Prime Minister. I think many echo my sentiments and I think the banks in the country might soon be facing an avalanche of credit card cancellations. If they lose business that way, how will that impact on consumer spending? How do you expect the economy to grow if your rakyat does not spend?

So Mr. Prime Minister, I object to this imposition of a RM50 service tax on credit cards ostensibly to protect the people from overspending. That is not a problem for the Government – it is a problem for the individual. Why not compel banks to raise the income threshold for owning a credit card? Find a way to help cut credit card debt without burdening the individual who has no credit card debt and who just wants some convenience in life.

Mr. Prime Minister the RM50 service tax on credit cards IS a burden and it will continue to be a burden and if your spin doctors tell you otherwise, it might be worth rethinking the implementation or risk the rakyat turning a cold shoulder to the government of the day. A pity when many might have already been warming to your presence.

This may not be the government of petrol price hikes, but the 2010 Budget will go down in history as the credit card tax budget. The rakyat cannot abide that Mr. Prime Minister.

PB