CYBERJAYA: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak today warned of the impact that low revenue collection could have on Malaysia.
He cited the cases of several nations in Europe, which experienced dire situations, and stressed on the importance of securing optimum revenue collection.
"Smaller revenue will be very bad for us. We can see what happened in some countries in Europe as a result of poor tax collection systems and the people's refusal to pay taxes," he said at the Inland Revenue Board's 2017 Revenue Day celebration at Menara Hasil, here today.
Also present were the prime minister's wife Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor, Treasury Secretary-General Tan Sri Dr Mohd Irwan Serigar Abdullah, deputy finance ministers Datuk Othman Aziz and Datuk Lee Chee Leong and IRB chief executive officer Datuk Sabin Samitah.
Najib, who is also the Finance Minister, said with strong revenue, better development and sevices could be rendered to the people.
"We need revenues to provide the best services to the people, which is what they expect from us (the government).
"I see the IRB as the backbone of the government and the country's economy," he added.
Najib also urged the IRB to tackle issues which, if left unchecked, could lead to a flourishing underground economy (unrecorded and untaxed economic activities).
He said loopholes could be plugged through a very efficient tax collection system and introducing the element of fear among those who refuse to pay taxes.
"The element of fear is that no one can escape from paying taxes."
The prime minister also praised IRB for the RM114 billion collection it recorded last year.
He lauded the IRB's continuous efforts to improve itself via various measures which would be put in place this year.
Earlier, Sabin said the IRB can meet its target of RM127.7 billion in revenue collection this year by adopting drastic measures, including strengthening the leadership at each level and by emphasizing an excellent work culture.
Later, Najib also presented awards to the best tax payers, comprising public-listed companies, government-liked companies, as well as private companies, including small-medium enterprises.
The recipients were Malaysia LNG Sdn Bhd; Putrajaya Holdings Sdn Bhd; Public Bank Bhd; Great Eastern Life Assurance (Malaysia) Bhd; Fuji Xerox Asia Pacific PTE Ltd (Malaysia branch); DL Balance Co. Ltd; Digi Telecommunications Sdn Bhd; Commercial Marketers and Distributors Sdn Bhd, and Mayang Development Sdn Bhd.