The appalling state of the tax system

Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad(filepic) had said in Parliament that the government would not bring back the GST, as it expects to collect more from the SST over the years. The prime minister is not entirely wrong.

The report on the federal government’s fiscal outlook and revenue estimates showed some appalling statistics on the true state of taxes.

Out of the 1.25 million companies, some 62.4% or 780,742 are registered with the Inland Revenue Board (IRB), of which only a paltry 61,000 or 7.8% were subject to taxes as of end-2017. The ratio is better for the personal income tax.