Kuala Lampur, Nov. 25 -- Former Cabinet Minister and Muar MP, Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman, has recently advocated in Parliament for windfall taxes to be imposed on glove manufacturers in Malaysia.
There is, predictably, a fair share of criticism against this proposal for windfall taxes. They largely fall into these narratives: (a) "why punish companies for their success?" (b) "isn't it better to allow these companies to re-invest their profits to expand and diversify the business, thereby providing more jobs?", (c) "this will spook foreign investors away".
Before we address these criticisms, it is important to demystify what exactly are windfall taxes.
First and foremost, windfall taxes are generally: (a) one-off, (b) imposed only upon...