By Mohd Farhan Darwis
PETALING JAYA, July 31 — PKR today suggested auctioning off Approved Permits (APs) for imported vehicles through an open bidding process in the first three years under Pakatan Rakyat's (PR) rule before abolishing the system entirely in 2015.
The party's strategy director Rafizi Ramli said this would be on top of PR's electoral pledge to slash excise duties and to help reduce household debt and boost the disposable incomes of Malaysians.
Rafizi (picture) told a press conference today that if an estimated 70,000 APs are awarded every month, the auction should fetch nearly RM3 billion revenue annually for the government.
He said this would help compensate for the RM8 billion in annual losses expected from PR's plan to slash car excise duties, which currently runs as high as 105 per cent.
"Under Umno-Barisan Nasional (BN), the AP system only benefits those who are close to them.
"This is why PKR suggests that the next government, whether or not under BN or PR, must abolish the AP system by 2015 in order to comply by agreements of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA)," he said.
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