PUTRAJAYA: A whopping RM56bil – that’s the revenue target set for the Customs and Excise Department this year.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said the target was easily within reach of the department, adding that the amount could also be surpassed with sound leadership and commitment, and aggressive enforcement to curb smuggling.
“You have done great service to the nation and I salute you all,” he said at the World Customs Day celebration here yesterday.
Anwar said while it was important for the department to ensure revenue collection remained efficient, it must also look at ways to better plug leakages and “not to allow certain parties to get away”.
“There are individuals who managed to evade paying taxes and Customs duties. I have been stern about this during post-Cabinet meetings. We must find out why and must prevent it,” he said.
Anwar, who is also Finance Minister, said that he too had to pay Customs duties and shared a story about how he would get a large quantity of olive oil from a friend in the Middle East.
“The olive oil is for my personal consumption and I give some to family and friends. But recently, I had to pay RM500 in duty for personal use.
“My reason for sharing this is to show that even I am taxed and that I pay what is asked of me,” he said.
To give the department staff a morale boost, the PM announced an extra RM50mil allocation for housing and other infrastructure needs. This is in addition to the RM2bil housing allocation the government had set aside for civil servants.
“The department has done tremendous work in collecting revenue for the country, so we add another RM50mil for it,” he said.
Meanwhile, Customs director-general Datuk Anis Rizana Mohd Zainudin said the Finance Ministry had raised the revenue target for the department this year, from last year’s RM55.1bil collection.
She said the department had mobilised its machinery to ensure this year’s target was met.
She also said the department thwarted a total of 7,771 smuggling attempts last year, involving seizures valued at RM567mil.
