2010 - 0% import tax on CBU cars?

[Spaceman]

Was reading the article couple of days ago that by 2010 the import tax on CBUs would be abolished. Anyone can confirm this? If its true, what are % of savings we are looking at in future?

 

[B33mEr]

I doubt very much that's gonna happen and if it does there will be a mechanism in place to recover back the loss of income from import tax on cars i.e. levy's and etc

 

[conan]

Yes, it's already happening but rest assure the cars won't be any cheaper. the govt has got some smart advisers.. the import duties will simply be replaced with excise duties.
the nissan navara is the first car to cost the same in langkawi and peninsula malaysia. i don't think it can be called 'cheap'....

 

[JDY]

what sort of levy's..and what would it be based on u reckon ??

 

[B33mEr]

what sort of levy's..and what would it be based on u reckon ??

Your guess is as good as mine bro. As mentioned by bro conan d govt will find ways to recover back some if not all of the loss revenue from import tax plus to protect Proton as well.

History will repeat itself ...
http://lgmsps.lgm.gov.my/CIC/BASIS/newsdb/all/news/DDD/1100.pdf

 

[astroboy]

Nissan Navara? Just because national car maker does't make one.

 

[jc@]

i choose to stop listening to everything that has to do with the country. non of it make any sense. even a education minister will say something that even 7 year old kid will not agree with.

 

[affan66]

the govt is too dependent on these taxes. not because of proton anymore. Without these taxes, where do you think govt will get revenue? Increase income tax? I am sure you guys like it

 

[funfer_fahrer]

Was reading the article couple of days ago that by 2010 the import tax on CBUs would be abolished. Anyone can confirm this?

If its true, what are % of savings we are looking at in future?

If this is true, a band new X5 3.0L should be selling around RM270K. I am optimistic about this new development.

 

[BMW9700]

If this is true, a band new X5 3.0L should be selling around RM270K. I am optimistic about this new development.

really hoping and praying its true

 

[Schwepps]

Guys, the National Automotive Policy was announced in late-2005, and implemented in 2006 with the tax rates shown here: http://www.maa.org.my/info_duty.htm#03 The NAP was a move towards AFTA Common Effective Preferential Tariff (CEPT) compliance in the auto industry and it was already promised then that, among other things, that by 2010 import duty would drop to 0% and APs would be abolished. The recent comments by the DPM are in line with the policy.

The NAP replaced the import duty regime with excise duty. Excise duty is considered a domestic tax like service tax, and is used by many countries to 'manage' domestic policies. We are paying 80% excise duty for the CKD 320i and 90% for the CKD 325i. That's about RM65k and RM85k in excise respectively. The import duty is already a smallish part of the taxes on the CIF value of CKD parts and CBUs. Dropping it to 0% won't change things much, especially if the excise duty is raised correspondingly.

Focus on the definition "excise duty is a domestic tax". The thing is that national cars are supposed to be excisable too at the same rate as imports so that there is no protectionism. But being a domestic tax, it can also be waived...or holiday-ed...

The NAP came into being only 3 years ago, but we have short memories. Some people even think that the 300% top-end import duty still exists!

 

[mnas]

the govt is too dependent on these taxes. not because of proton anymore. Without these taxes, where do you think govt will get revenue? Increase income tax? I am sure you guys like it

I agree with u bro.. let's make the car's prices cheaper but instead hike up the personal income tax rate to 40% or higher (in line with UK, US, Australia) and even lower the chargeable income tax bracket. so, somebody who wants to buy bimmers will find it cheaper but at the same time they loose out when paying income taxes.

 

[Ade]

I agree with u bro.. let's make the car's prices cheaper but instead hike up the personal income tax rate to 40% or higher (in line with UK, US, Australia) and even lower the chargeable income tax bracket. so, somebody who wants to buy bimmers will find it cheaper but at the same time they loose out when paying income taxes.

I think the problem here is the value of RM is not in line with UK,US or even Australia....lets not talk about Singapore..I don't mind the govt continue with their excise duty and such coz cars won't be anytime the prices of these developed nation as the value of our currency is dropping like hell..

 

[Schwepps]

We naturally feel paying double or triple for our cars is unfair. But we have to look at the issue in the right perspective.

Firstly, to recover the lost tax revenue through higher income taxes would be unfair to those who don't own cars and use public transport instead.

And then, it may be cheaper to buy a car say in Europe, but their petrol is taxed at something like 75%, and are generally above 1 Euro per liter now. http://www.karzoo.eu/en/calculators/petrol-prices At today's rate of E1.00 = RM4.93, Brits pay RM5.75 per liter, Germans RM6.40 and Norwegians RM6.85 for 95 octane. That's more than triple our petrol price, which most of the time, is subsidised rather than taxed. Norway is an oil producing country too, BTW.

Would we rather have cars costing 1/3 and petrol costing 3x? Then our 1.5 million new vehicles per annum would go up to 2 million per annum or more. No point having a car then, because it would be too expensive to pump petrol (a full tank would cost RM300+), the streets would be eternallly jammed, and when you get to your destination there would be no place to park because there would be 20 million vehicles in the country.

Our government policies on car and petrol prices don't look so bad when you look at things in perspective. The only gripe I have about the current duty regime is that non-national car owners are subsidising national car owners. But then, nobody is forcing me to buy a non-national...

My 2 sen.

 

[funfer_fahrer]

High car prices is one of the major reasons why people give and accept bribes. A lot of taxpayer's money have been wasted due to this. Inflated costs of building highways and skyscrapers, just to name a few. It is the root of all evil in this country. Did you notice the perception of bribery in the countries where car prices is low? Is it high or low? I would say majority is low. Sad to say, a high ranking government officer in the parliament also accept this fact as a justification to close one eye. On the lower level, carjacking is becoming very common. Some people even lose their lives because of this. Scared of losing tax revenue? Let me assure you that there are many avenues. Those accountants just need to think harder or at least be more creative. I am sure it can be done. So, I guess it is about time.

 

[Schwepps]

Agree, funfer, but this is a discussion on the taxing of our cars. They are among the highest in the world here and in Singapore. But look at the tax on petrol in the UK:

Unleaded price per litre: 96.6p (RM5.75)
Petrol tax per litre: 72.5p
Tax rate: 75%
http://www.see-search.com/business/fuelandpetrolpriceseurope.htm

I'd rather have the 90% excise duty and tolled highways than pay that much for petrol.

 

[funfer_fahrer]

That's right bro. I agree. But ask any Brits whether they really feel the pinch when they arrive at the petrol station or do they feel intimidated at the petrol station the way most of us feel when we visit a Bentley showroom? What is their per capita income compared to ours? To them buying a GBP50,000 BMW is already expensive. All over the world there is certain band of aceptable level for car prices. Over here, there's none! Their biggest cost of buying a car is depreciation. The high tax on petrol is for a reason. It is to minimize air pollution. Once you put petrol into the tank, you will pollute the enviroment no matter what car you drive. It is a big sin in developed countries. If a person feels that he or she doesn't want to pollute the enviroment on certain days, the person has a choice for not being highly taxed by car pooling or take the public transport. In other words, the system tries to educate the citizen to protect the environment. The taxes on cars also is based on dangerous gas emission, not based on cubic capacity.

 

[Schwepps]

Spot on funfer. The worst offender as far as energy consumption and carbon footprint are concerned is none other than the US, where cars are cheapest, petrol is about RM2.20, and distances are vast. Oil producing countries, with the exception of Norway, are by and large irresponsible with their petrol prices by not taxing and indeed subsidising. But at least Malaysia and Singapore make it harder to own a car with high import/excise taxes. Think of the traffic situation in Bangkok and Jakarta where cars are cheaper.

BTW, Brits do feel the pinch at the petrol pump big time - I have family there. And it causes everything else to be excruciatingly expensive. When petrol goes up, so does the price of everything else. The average joe here pays less for basic needs than the average joe in the UK. But of course they have better public transport, infrastructure, healthcare, policing, etc. But then everybody, including the average joe, pays for it with taxes like 75p per litre of petrol.

 

[funfer_fahrer]

I am in no way suggesting that we have to follow the British mould. Our requiremens are definitely different from theirs. If only life could be slightly better for us car enthusiasts. We are like hungry crocodiles here waiting patiently - when will the price of cars come down? Grrrr.... Has anyone ever thought that by lowering the import duty by say 50%, people will actually change cars more frequently and, as a result the government will gain more revenue? Is there any thorough studies been done? Hungry crocodiles like myself will change cars every year man! The problem here is that the policy makers don't have enough political will even to think about this.

Grrrrr.......

 

[Schwepps]

We all feel the same way funfer. But if you think about it, the prices of cars at the lower end HAVE actually come down since the NAP. There are more choices in the below 100k range and more people are buying non-national now, to the chagrin of the nationals.

At the higher price and cc end, the tax rates are actually lower than before NAP. But the COST of premium cars has gone up, so we don't feel any reduction in the cars that WE want. It's not all because of the taxes. Compare the E90 and E36 - miles apart in all respects. But we want the better engine, better performance, xenons, LEDs, RFTs, idrive, sat nav, auto this, auto that... My guess is that the manufacturing cost of an E90 is double that of an equivalent E36. It's the price of progress.