They pretend to giveth… and they snatcheth away before ye can even smell it

Inconsiderate power abusing pricks. That’s the new term I’ll use to describe them from now on.

First, the gazette ain’t even out yet, despite the “law” supposedly having been effective from 1 January 2008. But, they issue an addendum (read: a-them-dumb, because they are) to the Public Ruling that places ridiculous restrictions so that those exemptions that the taxpayers thought should now help in belt-tightening times, are C4-ed into pieces and places far and wide it surprises even this seasoned-getting-used-to-their-idiotic-antics-tax-practitioner.

To explain my rants, let me remind you taxpayers that in Budget 2009, it was announced by the now Defense Minister that employees were meant to be given such goodies as tax exemptions for meal allowances and child care allowances from employers, amongst a slew of exemptions.

The A-Them-Dumb now reads…

Meal allowance provided to an employee for purposes such as overtime or outstation/overseas trips and other similar purposes in exercising his employment is meant to cover meal expenses of the employee. Such meal allowance is paid according to the employee’s position, duties or place where the employment is exercised. As such, any allowance pertaining to meal expenses is chargeable to tax and does not fall under this exemption. Similarly, a per diem allowance which is meant to cover meal expenses for an employee in exercising his employment is also not included in this exemption.

Reality check. A flippin’ two year old would relate a meal allowance to covering meal expenses! Which part of the word “meal” don’t you get in ”meal allowance”?! If it’s not meal expenses, then what? Use the money to buy seeds to cultivate our gardens on our apartment balconies, is it?!

Now, let’s look at how working parents are encouraged to leave their teenagers home alone to join street gangs, lepak and/ or beef up the Mat Rempit population…

For the purpose of this exemption, child means a child of the age of 12 years and below and who is a legitimate child or step-child of an individual or his wife/ husband or a child proved to the satisfaction of the Director General to have been adopted by the individual or his wife/ husband in accordance with any law.

Let’s top off this lump of shit with the fact that the a-them-dumb was issued less than 3 weeks before every employer must submit the details of every one of their employee’s taxable income. Nothing like icing that matches the cake, is there?