With the theme “Spend Wisely, Cut Taxes, Choose Hope”, the opposition coalition went directly to the message on what it intends to do to “give more back to the rakyat, with a better and more balanced budget”.

According to PH, it used data from the finance ministry in drawing up its budget.

With its primary goal in zerorising the goods and services tax (GST) from the current 6%, the coalition said the budget for next year aims to offset the estimated shortfall of RM42 billion in the government’s coffers.

“As every fiscal budget has two components, namely revenue and expenditure, a drop in revenue can be counterbalanced by a reduction in expenditure,” PH said, adding that it can reduce the impact of the revenue loss to a net value of RM14 billion.

“For 2018, we are determined to eliminate RM20 billion from wastage and corruption.

“Part of this wastage and corruption includes the slashing of the Prime Minister’s Department budget from the RM20.8 billion currently to a more acceptable RM8.4 billion.

“This would be part of an overall RM27 billion reduction in the government’s operating expenditure.”

One area that would remain untouched is the civil service though.

However, despite comments against the number of civil servants, that it is bloated with a 1.6 million workforce, the PH budget did not mention anything about reducing its size.

The main focus was on upskilling and helping existing personnel to enhance productivity and to even give rewards similar to how the Penang and Selangor governments reward their state civil servants.

On the point of increasing revenue, the PH budget hopes to add billions to its revenue with an increase in sin tax, namely imposing higher duties on cigarettes and alcohol.

The expected boost to car sales from the end of GST is also expected to generate more than RM1 billion, according to PH.