Give me the numbers

I get very peeved when people talk without being backed up by numbers. And frankly, we don't have such numbers.

For example, in my last piece, I asked if there were a growing number of stateless children and those being born out of wedlock, as well as cases of baby dumping.

And you know what? We don't have any numbers on any of these. Which was why I raised the question.

Similarly, when a minister tells us that there are rogue traders raising prices to take advantage of the implementation of the goods and services tax (GST), why does he not show the numbers?

How many so-called rogue traders has his ministry found? Out of how many registered with a GST ID?

How many have not registered and are raising their prices?

Don't get me wrong, there are rogue traders. But it is my belief that this group is a scapegoat for the minister who sucks at his job to gain public acceptance over a tax that was a long time coming.

In fact, the spin that the number of complaints received dropping as "acceptance" instead of "boiling undercover dislike which will cost votes" is equally damning.

In everything about policy, it is a numbers game. And when Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad came out and said that the GST was a bailout tax, he is not far off.

It is a bailout tax. But let us be frank, we are responsible for most of what they are bailing out. It is a collective responsibility borne by all Malaysians. Why?

Because we have been apathetic as a nation for most of our lives.

All Malaysians seem to care about is rising costs. But where is the apathy over the fact that so many Malaysians are exempted from taxes because they don't even meet the threshold income to be taxed?

We bitch about the lagging public transport, yet we don't even bother to support it other than to say "I pay taxes".

We have had a government that has mollycoddled the Malaysian population and its industries through bailouts and subsidies, cheap goods through cheap labourers and now, we are paying for it.

We have a tax floor of RM4,000, when the majority of the Malaysian workforce earn half that amount, according to the Department of Statistics.

Do we even know how many Malaysians actually pay income tax, as well as the breakdown groups of how much they are paying? In a nation of 30 million people, we only have a population of 5.6% who are paying taxes.

So if you want to bitch about public transport, or even this whole idea of government bailouts, horrible public transport, the many, many mega projects that have passed or failed, guess what, it is from the money from the income taxes of 1.7 million working Malaysians.

So tell me. Is it fair?

While those earning more than RM4,000 a month have to worry about not only their income tax and the GST, the rest of the working population are making noise about how they are now culpable to paying taxes, too.

So when we have such an arrogant middle-class who make noise about the aching burden of the price of goods, they do not look at the fact the there are plenty of the "Bottom 40" suffering due to trying to keep the goods cheaper.

Take a look at the basics: rice and fish. While farmers and fishermen were once able to sustain their livelihoods with the income from their efforts, subsidies and government-linked intervention has instead made them poorer, to the point that padi farmers have less than RM250 a month net income.

But you don't look at that, do you? There is a large chain of causality that has been oversimplified by politicians on both sides to argue over the rising cost to the Malaysian public. And the truth is, we would prefer to be more emphatic to people from other nations rather than look at our own countryside and help them.

So what are we to do?

Look to your own houses, your own companies, your own kampung and communities.

How much do you pay a maid? How much are you paying your lowest staff member?

How much is that pasar tani guy paying his suppliers who catch the fish?

How much does it cost to invest in a new generation of padi farmers who are now at the average age of 60?

And calculate carefully: how much exactly are you paying in taxes truthfully to sustain all of these as part of the 5.6% of Malaysians paying income tax?

At the same time, ponder whether those around you – the 94.4% – who have been freeloading on your tax ringgit – should shut up and start paying, too. – June 2, 2015.

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insider.