MCA supports calls to abolish trade licence fee

Abolishing the trade license fee for hawkers and petty traders can help to promote price reduction, said MCA’s vice-president Datuk Chua Tee Yong.

He said the setting up of more hawker centres and food courts can also help to reduce price of food and drinks, especially now when more people tend to eat out because of the nature of their work.

He said any hike in the price of food and drinks by hawkers or at food courts would hit the people’s pockets directly.

“I agree with the Prime Minister’s suggestion that local councils should abolish the trade licence fee for hawkers and petty traders to create more micro-entrepreneurs and to supplement their income,” he said in a press statement on Monday.

But, he said there is a need to have a monitoring mechanism to ensure that the cost savings are passed on to the consumers, where in most cases, it does not.

To tackle this problem, he suggested that the government should look into regulating and monitor the rental of food centres to ensure that the rental will maintain at a reasonable price.

“The government can also provide them with tax incentives for both commercial or government buildings to ensure that hawkers and petty traders have a lower cost of business and thus able to charge lower,” he suggested.

“This will assist the rakyat especially those in the middle and lower income on a longer term basis as food is consumed daily,” he said.

He said the government should also look into the reasonableness of the price charges for food and drinks in hawker and food court.

“Reasonable prices of food and drinks should be announced to the public and that the people should also take the initiative to monitor any drastic increase of food prices,” he added.

Najib in launching the 2nd National Hawker and Petty Traders’ Day on Saturday, had called on local council to abolish license fees for hawkers and petty traders.

He had said that it would be a good move that will create more places for hawkers and petty traders to operate.