DESPITE objections from ratepayers, the Selangor government has approved the 25% increase in assessment rates in all local councils next year.
Speaking to the media on Monday (Dec 9), state local government committee chairman Datuk Ng Suee Lim said the new assessment rates by 12 local councils will come into force on Jan 1, 2025.
The state government had, in June, announced plans to allow local councils to increase the assessment rates, subject to a 25% cap.
But the councils also allowed ratepayers to file their objections to the increase, to be decided on a case-by-case basis, with the final decision on the rate increase to be decided by the state government.
Ng, in announcing the approval for the increase, said the state government has postponed the implementation of new rates since 2019, taking into account several factors including the current economic situation.
“This step is taken to ensure greater compliance and enforcement effective in the field of assessment and public service in line with the Local Government Act 1976 [Act 171], based on new property values that must be prepared and completed by all local councils every five years,” said Ng.
However, he noted that many councils used several decades-old rates.
“The existing valuation list for Sabak Bernam District Council still uses the 1986 rate, followed by Kuala Langat Municipal Council (37 years), while the other nine local councils are still using the yearly rates of more than 20 years,” Ng said during a briefing on the assessment rates at Wisma Dewan Negeri Selangor in Shah Alam.
Ng said the councils received 148,000 objections from ratepayers who voiced their concerns with the increase.
“We went beyond and investigated 287,000 objections, and validated 230,000 of them,” he said.
Ng also pointed out that with the implementation of the 25% tax increase cap, property owners will receive a discount in total assessments payable of up to 75%.
“For example, if an apartment owner paid an assessment tax of RM100 per year in 2024, with the new property revaluation, the assessment tax should be RM200 per year in 2025.
“This increase is due to the difference in rental rates used in determining how the assessment tax is calculated in the Local Government Act 1976.
“However, with the cap of the 25% increase in assessment taxes set by the state government, the total assessment to be paid in 2025 will be RM125,” he said.
