My Budget 2010 Wish List

Budget 2010 is just around the corner and to date, there has been plenty said in news websites and blogs about personal income tax cuts, new incentives for businesses and even incentives for tertiary education institutions. Yet incentives for individuals pursuing an education or whose children are being educated are still lacking and I fervently hope at least one of these areas will be addressed in the upcoming budget.

My Budget 2010 wish list

1) Income tax deductions for taxpayers who are currently repaying student loans from government agencies/institutions (e.g. PTPTN, MARA, JPA, etc) and other qualified student loans approved by the LHDN and MOHE. Deductions should be made available to individual taxpayers within a specified income bracket, to reduce the burden of  paying for their education.

It sure beats barring errant loan payers from leaving the country, positive reinforcement often works on adults the same way it did when they were teens or children.

2) Higher tax deductions for working adults pursuing their post-graduate degrees. And how about widening the scope of degrees to include the arts, that way the government can also address the shortage of qualified teachers for instance.

What's available now: RM5,000 tax relief for post-graduate degrees in the fields of law, accounting, Islamic financing, technical, vocational,  industrial, science or technology. With Masters degrees in science and technology at local private universities costing some RM60,000 in tuition fees alone, RM5,000 is simply not enough. With the economy as it is, salary hikes and promotions are scarce, RM10,000 would be a more reasonable amount.

3) Special tax relief for parents who have children with special needs but can't afford to send them to special centres and therapy.

Other tax reliefs currently available to individual taxpayers:

A maximum of RM3,000 tax relief for your child's education insurance policy
A maximum of RM3,000 under the Skim Simpanan Pendidikan Nasional programme
A maximum of RM1,000 for book purchases

Speaking of books, the government may want to consider giving special tax incentives to bookstore chains and book distributors who slash prices on education-related books and textbooks for primary, secondary and tertiary-age students.Books are still far too expensive and inaccessible to the masses.After all, how many lower-income Malaysians can afford to shelve out RM1,000 a year to buy books, especially when they may not even be taxable?

In the spirit of Budget 2010, I've designed a  poll for the more edu-centric amongst us:

[polldaddy poll=2078647]