THOSE who earn more than RM2 million a year will pay a higher tax, said Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng today.

The government has proposed a 2% increase to 30% in the taxable income threshold for these top earners, he said when tabling Budget 2020 in Parliament.

“It is proposed that a new band for taxable income in excess of RM2 million be introduced, and taxed at 30%, which is an increase of two percentage points from the current 28%. This will affect some 2,000 top earners in the country.”

The tax hike is part of Putrajaya’s efforts to boost its revenue. The government expects to rake in RM244.5 billion next year, up from 2019’s RM233.3 billion after excluding the RM30 billion one-off special dividend from Petronas.

Lim said Malaysia still collects “significantly lower taxes than other countries”, and as such, the proposed tax increase for the wealthy is part of developing a progressive personal income tax structure.

He also announced that the Special Commissioner of Income Tax and Customs Appeal Tribunal will be merged into the Tax Appeal Tribunal, so as to make managing taxpayers’ appeals more efficient. – October 11, 2019.