World Bank suggested 35% tax rate on Malaysian top earners, says Guan Eng

Updated 4 years ago · Published on 14 Oct 2019 2:25PM · 1 Comments

THE proposal in Budget 2020 for a 30% income tax rate on those earning annual incomes of RM2 million and above came from the World Bank, said Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng today.

He told a dialogue session in Kuala Lumpur on the budget that the World Bank’s original proposal had been for a 35% tax rate, but Putrajaya felt this would be seen as too harsh, Malay Mail Online reported him saying.

Lim said the World Bank proposed a higher tax rate because Malaysia did not charge as much income tax as other similar middle-income countries did.

“We feel that for the wealthy, a 30% marginal tax rate is within their capability,” Lim said.

The 30% rate is 2% higher than what the wealthy currently pay in income tax.

At 30%, only some 2,000 wealthy taxpayers will be affected.

This should earn the government RM100 million, he added. – October 14, 2019.

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Comments

  • If 30 per cent is imposed on those earning 2 million, then politicians who benefit from the political economy of rent should be the first to be hit first no ?

    Posted 4 years ago by Daniel Chew · Reply