Najib hits backs at criticism of false claims on income inequality
‘I don’t do false claims or fake news’, says Najib Razak on Facebook.
PETALING JAYA: Former prime minister Najib Razak has hit back at criticisms over his statement that income inequality had widened under the Pakatan Harapan (PH) administration.
Najib, who raised the issue during his recent debate with opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, cited data from the statistics department to show the increase in the Gini coefficient during PH’s time in government.
“I don’t do false claims or fake news,” he said on Facebook.
Najib was responding to allegations that he made false claims on the matter as World Bank statistics only provided data up until 2015.
He, however, said the statistics department provided data up until 2019.
“As you can see, Malaysia’s Gini coefficient experienced its sharpest drop in history during my time as prime minister, dropping from 44.1 to 39.9,” he said.
He said that during his administration, B40 and M40 household income experienced higher yearly growth compared to T20 due to the policies introduced at the time and the expansion of various programmes for jobs and small businesses.
The introduction of the goods and services tax (GST), Najib said, further contributed to the positive growth of B40 and M40 household income as wealthier people faced increased taxes the more they spent on non-exempted items.
“Income equality improved at its fastest pace during this time, lifting millions of Malaysians out of hardcore poverty,” he said.
“But it went up again in 2019 when many of these policies were reversed by the PH government.”
PETALING JAYA: Former prime minister Najib Razak has hit back at criticisms over his statement that income inequality had widened under the Pakatan Harapan (PH) administration.
Najib, who raised the issue during his recent debate with opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, cited data from the statistics department to show the increase in the Gini coefficient during PH’s time in government.
“I don’t do false claims or fake news,” he said on Facebook.
Najib was responding to allegations that he made false claims on the matter as World Bank statistics only provided data up until 2015.
He, however, said the statistics department provided data up until 2019.
“As you can see, Malaysia’s Gini coefficient experienced its sharpest drop in history during my time as prime minister, dropping from 44.1 to 39.9,” he said.
He said that during his administration, B40 and M40 household income experienced higher yearly growth compared to T20 due to the policies introduced at the time and the expansion of various programmes for jobs and small businesses.
The introduction of the goods and services tax (GST), Najib said, further contributed to the positive growth of B40 and M40 household income as wealthier people faced increased taxes the more they spent on non-exempted items.
“Income equality improved at its fastest pace during this time, lifting millions of Malaysians out of hardcore poverty,” he said.
“But it went up again in 2019 when many of these policies were reversed by the PH government.”
https://taxpolicy.crawford.anu.edu.au/files/uploads/taxstudies_crawford_anu_edu_au/2016-11/progressive_varela_feb_2016_complete.pdf
ReplyDeleteWorld wide, GST is regarded as a regressive tax, because the poor and lower-income end up paying a higher % of their income to GST compared to the Rich.
The rich pay more absolute amounts, of course, but as a % of their income, the poor pay more
“I don’t do false claims or fake news,”
ReplyDeleteNajib spun megatons of false claims and fake news during his time in office, especially his lies over 1MDB.
Wakakakaka…
ReplyDelete"‘I don’t do false claims or fake news’, says Najib Razak on Facebook"
What a joke!
Shamelessness knows NO bound.