KUALA LUMPUR: The increase in individual income tax relief to RM12,000 under Budget 2027 is long overdue and will give households huge relief, says Ayer Hitam MP Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong.
The MCA president said the relief limit had not been revised in sixteen years, and raising it would allow people to deduct more from their taxable income and leave them with more money to spend.
"I think that will help the liquidity, the disposable income," he told reporters at the Parliament lobby after the Budget was tabled on Friday (Oct 9).
Dr Wee, who has been calling for the increase over the past few years, said RM12,000 was the minimum he had pressed for.
"Exactly what I said, it should be increased to at least RM12,000 if not RM15,000. So today we see at least this good effort," he said.
"I have said it many times. Over the past two or three years, I would definitely bring it up, and I said RM12,000 is the minimum because it has not been adjusted for sixteen years," he added.
He also noted the income tax cut for small and medium enterprises, adding that the Budget carried many goodies to assist the M40 and B40 groups.
On the wider economy, Dr Wee said attention should now turn to how spending is controlled going forward and how the Budget is carried out.
"As for overall economic development, what we should focus on is how to properly control future expenditure and how it is implemented," he said.
On the Education Ministry receiving the largest allocation of nearly RM69bil, Dr Wee said this was nothing new.
"There has not been a year when the Education Ministry was not number one. It is just that the amount keeps increasing," he said.
He said the ministry's share of the overall budget had stayed at around 18% to 20%, with the bulk of its allocation going towards civil servants' salaries.
Asked if the RM100mil for Chinese national-type schools was enough, Dr Wee said similar sums had been given when Barisan Nasional was in power.
"Barisan Nasional used to give RM100mil as well, in 2012 and 2013. Most of the years, it was easily RM50mil. This year it is RM100mil," he said.
When announcing Budget 2027, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, who is also Finance Minister, said the individual income tax relief limit has been raised to RM12,000 from the previous rate of RM9,000, which was last reviewed in 2010.
Anwar also said the resident individual income tax rate had also been reduced by one percentage point.
The issue was raised by Dr Wee in Parliament since 2023 and most recently in July last year, he again called for the increase in individual income tax relief to RM12,000 from RM9,000.
Dr Wee had said that raising the individual tax relief to RM12,000 is the bare minimum and it should be gradually increased to RM15,000, taking into account the rising cost of living and inflation.
