Effective Tax System Helped Reduce Deficit, Says Minister

BUTTERWORTH (Penang, Malaysia), Feb 20 (Bernama) -- An effective tax collection system has greatly helped to reduce the country's fiscal deficit in 2011, bringing it down to 5.0 per cent from a deficit of 5.6 per cent recorded in 2010. Minister in the Prime Minister's Department, Nor Mohamed Yakcop said the figure had exceeded expectations and was better than the 5.4 per cent deficit projected by the government in the 2011 Budget. He said the government's tax revenue collection last year rose RM20 billion (US$6.6 billion). "According to records, much of the increase in income tax collection came from tax income collected from individuals, which showed that the country's tax system was very effective," he told reporters after attending a gathering with the residents of Labuh Banting in Permatang Berangan here on Sunday. He said the reduced fiscal deficit also proved that the government's efforts to bring down the figure had paid off and that it would continue with its prudent spending. The rise in individual tax income collection also shows that people are now beginning to already earn enough income to pay tax, he said. On the country's economic development, Nor Mohamed, who is also Member Parliament of Tasek Gelugor, said that although the economic climate in Europe was getting more uncertain, Malaysia's economy had continued to expand and this was evidenced by the significant rise in the per capita income since 1970. The American economy, which has started to recover, has also contributed to this improvement, he said. The rate of unemployment in the United States has been reported to be improving while production has gone up in that country, he said. At the end of last year, annual per capita income in Malaysia increased to more than US$9,000 or about RM28,000 compared with only US$376 (RM1,159) in 1970, he said. He added that the people's income was also only one level away from reaching the developed country status and that he was confident the country will achieve the target of US$15,000 per capita income by 2020. --BERNAMA Malaysia