Khairy Jamaluddin speaks at the Budget Agenda session of the Youth Economic Forum 2018 at the Securities Commission in Kuala Lumpur October 27, 2018. — Picture by Ham Abu Bakar

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 27 — Barisan Nasional (BN) will be proposing an “economic framework” this Wednesday or Thursday to propose a few ideas, programmes and policies to Putrajaya before the tabling of Budget 2019 on November 2, Khairy Jamaluddin said.

However, the shadow finance minister stressed that the framework will not be the coalition’s alternative budget.

“For BN, we will not be tabling an alternative budget because it is still the first year [since Pakatan Harapan took over]. But on Wednesday or Thursday, we will table an economic framework — it is not an alternative budget.

“There’s a few ideas that BN will propose on policies and programmes including new methods of increasing [government] revenue,” he told reporters at the sidelines of the Youth Economic Forum 2018.

Khairy said he also wished for a more progressive tax in the Budget that would tax the rich more, so wealth can be redistributed to the bottom 40 per cent (B40) and middle 40 per cent (M40) groups.

Earlier during his “debate” session with Damansara MP Tony Pua, who is also Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng’s special officer, the DAP MP hinted that the government will be implementing new steps to increase revenue.

“The hints I received earlier seems that there are steps to increase the government’s revenue in terms of taxation or other methods. It is important that the government increase their revenue because it has been disrupted with the abolishment of the GST,” Khairy said.

“The government needs new sources of income to fill up the RM20 billion hole left by GST. I would favour progressive tax that has a greater impact on those who are well-to-do and have it distributed to the B40 and M40,” he added, referring to the Goods and Services Tax.

“The lower end of the M40 had never really received a lot from the government before this.”

Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad will table Budget 2019 in Parliament, just weeks after tabling the revised 11th Malaysia Plan.