KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 23 — Budget 2016 will help boost the Chinese community’s support for Barisan Nasional (BN) because of various tax reliefs for the middle class, MCA claimed today.

MCA president Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak took into consideration what was sought by MCA and came up with a proper budget that would please the Chinese community, despite more allocations being given to ethnic Indians.

“Oh yes, at least the Chinese community will see that we are a responsible government.

“A government that will come out with a good fiscal budget and make sure we are not spending more than (what) we can afford with a deficit control at 3.1 per cent,” he told reporters when met at the Dewan Rakyat lobby after the government budget was tabled in Parliament.

Liow explained that Najib took into consideration what was wanted by the Chinese community, which was evident by the tax reductions on the middle income group.

“I would to say that all of us have put in our input for the government. MCA gave input focusing on middle income group.

“We are happy that the prime minister really focused on helping the M40, the group that earns in between RM3,500 to RM8,000. We are happy they reduced the tax bracket for this group,” he said.

Budget 2016 increased various tax reliefs, such as from RM3,000 to RM4,000 for individual taxpayers whose spouse does not earn, from RM6,000 to RM8,000 for each child aged above 18 years studying at colleges and universities. A tax relief was also provided for children who provide for their parents, RM1,500 each for the mother and father.

Overall, the Budget tabled by Najib this time around will help improve the country’s economy with many projects being improved and previous handouts being maintained, Liow said.

“We manage to ensure that all welfare cases were not withdrawn (in the budget). A lot of good projects were not withdrawn, in fact the prime minister added on to whatever existing projects.

“Old projects like the Bantuan Rakyat 1Malaysia are continued, OKU support and even support for schools are continued. We hope this further enhances our country’s economic growth ,” he explained.