Petrol Subsidy - Reducing Car Import Tariff

Some people said that abolishing car tariff would help reduce the burden of fuel price hike.

I already put a thought through it.

However, my opinion is that abolishing car import tariff will not help the poor.
It will just give us more option on which car to buy.

Let me illustrate.

For new cars, we got Protons and Peroduas as the cheapest. For used card we have a lot of cars to choose.
We could get a pre-owned Proton Tiara from 2k and also some 20 year old corollas.

There are already options for the "not so rich" to own used cars. And I think the price is still reasonable. So since they already know that they are not so rich, they will not buy even a brand new Kancil.
Hence, even if we got a Vios at the price of a Persona, it is still out of their budget.

For those people who could afford a Saga or Persona, or Viva and Myvi, then it will be good for them. Now they have plenty of choices. Vios, City, Accent etc.
If with taxes, then they will have to choose between Saga, Persona, Kancil, Viva, Myvi or just get used car of other make. And if the tariff is gone, then they got others to choose. It will not make them any richer. It will not make them any poorer.


For the rich, abolishing these tariffs will not make any difference to them. If they like a Gallardo, they will buy a Gallardo. With or without tax.


Again, I would stresses that if we could afford a RM 50k vehicle now, then if the import tariff is abolished, we still could only afford a 50k car. It will not change. The only thing change would be the choices of new cars to to own.

So abolishing the car import tariff will not help the poor. Instead, it will reduce the money govt got (thru taxes) to help the poor. Whether the govt would wisely it for the poor is another question to ponder.


My 2 sen.