YOURSAY | ‘Raising wages is preferable to handouts.’

COMMENT | When 1pct of population owns 50pct of wealth

MarioT: From time immemorial, there have always been the very rich, the not-so-rich, and the poor.

It has got worse with the wealth being held by a handful of people compared to our global population of over seven billion.

How to correct this disparity in the distribution of wealth? Not much we can do, I am afraid.

The working class, though contributing immensely to the wealth of the rich, will always remain subservient.

The wages they receive for their sustenance may be seen as unfair, but yet it keeps them going.

We have some giant corporations whose wealth is much greater than some countries’ gross domestic product (GDP).

If only human greed and craving for power and authority were kept at bay, perhaps there would be a better movement of wealth benefiting more people.

Some people talk about a new order that will replace more humans in workplaces with robots.

This artificial intelligence (AI)  evolution is going to see a new order and that can lead to further deprivation of humanity.

Robbie98: The majority of the countries in the world are giving up inheritance and estate tax as there are and always will be loopholes which can be used to avoid these taxes.

The rich in the present world are mobile and can shift their funds to other countries.

There will be a marked reduction in reinvestment if you introduce these taxes.  

Naked socialism, the old communism, is a proven failure. What Guna is proposing takes away innovation.

Why bother working hard and killing myself in the process if the tax is going to be 40 percent?

The desire to be “rich one day” should be the driving force for the entrepreneur in you. No government should take it away.  

There will always be some disparity in wealth, and using it as a reason to tax “the rich” is stupid economics.

The best way to have equity to some extent is to reintroduce goods and services tax (GST or some form of consumption tax.

Capital outflow will be the end product of inheritance and estate tax.

HJ Angus: No government in the world has managed to ensure that all wealth is equally distributed.

The communist states did provide some equal incomes, but almost everyone was poor except for the big shots.

So don’t encourage or expect any government policies to help improve the situation; even the current government will make matters worse with its Islamic bent and support for Palestinians thousands of miles away.

We need an honest government with minimal corruption and a good education system for the majority.

After that, let people determine their future with minimal government interference!

BluePanther4725: The huge income gap is a worldwide problem because the super-rich are not taxed properly, and many of them evade paying taxes using loopholes in the taxation system.

At the same time, these super-rich continue to oppress the masses and exploit the law. The rich monopolise and control the prices of all essential things.

The way to solve the problem is to impose much higher taxation on super-rich individuals and rich corporations.

This should include a tax on their assets and shareholdings. Meanwhile, taxation for the poor and middle income should be kept low.

The money gained from taxing the rich should be used to help the majority of people who need it via good, sustainable welfare, social and health programmes.

In many countries, the government, politicians and lawmakers are controlled and bought by the rich.

That's why the rich get all the protection, and these corrupt politicians share the wealth at the expense of the people. This is happening in Malaysia as well.

Existential Turd: Raising wages is preferable to hand-outs.

Raise the wages by all means, but eliminate all handouts and quotas, including direct negotiations, approved permits, and so on.  

The money saved from cronyism and largess is more than enough to cover the wage rise.

Variant: Malaysiakini columnist P Gunasegaram is totally off the mark here.

The rich don't live like you and me, you think they park all their wealth in their personal accounts?

Rich families are incorporated, and huge family trusts span generations that fund their business interests and lifestyle.  

I like how governments and the media portray all these new taxes as coming for the rich when they are designed to squeeze the middle class.

The rich don’t care, and the underclasses lack an understanding of this situation. Being middle class is a scam; it is charity work for the powers that be. 

Traveloka WINNING: What a “progressive” idea by our all-knowing writer Gunasegaram.

The rich are bending the rules to create even more wealth for themselves! We should tax the super-rich to reduce the income gap!

Social Justice! Equality (or is it equity) for all! In principle, I'm all in for long-term concepts like equality and higher wages for commoners. But have you considered the following?  

1. Higher wages may not lead to higher productivity (show me the link!!) but will certainly lead to higher business costs, which will drive businesses away from Malaysia.

2. The rich capture more shares of the wealth created only because they create even more wealth than the commoners via their capital and hard work. Forcing them to share their spoils will only make them stop creating so much wealth.

3. Inequality exists not necessarily because of unfair social structure but also because (or even more so than) of inequality in terms of effort, risk taken, and talent. Why should you reward mediocrity with free shares of other people’s hard labour?

4. Just look at how Marxist-communist countries like the USSR and Mao's China failed so miserably at the redistribution of wealth

5. Oh, we are not supposed to look at Marxist-communist countries. They are bad examples. Look at how Western Europe is managing and see how equal they are!

Maybe that’s why all the high-tech, high-growth companies are located in the US, where the inequality is a lot worse.

Open minded 2281: The world has changed and people can move to different countries and also move funds at the click of a button.

Those who advocate inheritance tax and high personal taxes are still living in a cave.

What needs to be done is to increase consumption, such as GST, as the rich who spend more will pay more taxes and increase minimum wages to push businesses to improve productivity.

Bringing in cheap foreign labour is the main reason for the disparity of income.

Anonymous_1601: Is the timing of the article just before budget 2025 indicative of more taxes for the B40 and retirees?

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