Nurul Izzah, Shahril Hamdan unite to call for ‘disparity tax’ on corporations

KUALA LUMPUR – The government should consider imposing a “disparity” tax on big corporations to help raise the minimum wage of fresh graduates, said Nurul Izzah Anwar.

The Permatang Pauh parliamentarian said the tax, similar to the one proposed by US senator Bernie Sanders, would also help reduce the wide income gap between the top earners and those with the lowest salaries.

“Among the top 10% of earners, their salaries should not be 50 times more than those at the bottom level,” she said.

Nurul Izzah said this during the ‘Dialog Tiga Penjuru’ talk show on Astro Awani yesterday evening.

The broadcast covered the dilemma of fresh graduates, touching on unemployment, low wages and underemployment among those with qualifications.

Also present was Umno information chief Shahril Sufian Hamdan and PAS Youth chief and senator Khairil Nizam Khirudin.

Nurul Izzah was responding to a question on the role the private sector plays in addressing the problem of low income among fresh graduates.

She said the tax should not deter foreign investors from pouring money into the country's economy.

“If the (income) gap is reduced, I think it’s acceptable (among investors),” she said.

Despite coming from opposing ends of the political spectrum, Shahril also echoed Nurul Izzah’s sentiment.

“If we are to rely solely on big profits to encourage investors to enter Malaysia, then Malaysia will always lose out,” Shahril said.

“We have to be confident of our human capital.”

He added that the country should not just allocate 35 sen for the needs of workers from every RM1 generated from the gross domestic product (GDP).

“So where has the rest (of the money) gone? Which means they (corporates) are already making profits,” he said. 

Both Shahril and Nurul Izzah said the government can start implementing the matter with government-linked companies.

“Put a rule where the ratio between the top (earners) and the median should not be above an ‘X’ amount,” Shahril said. – The Vibes, April 16, 2021