KOTA KINABALU: The fight for the return of the 40% tax revenue will continue although allocations given to Sabah in Budget 2023 are welcomed, says Sabah STAR Youth treasurer exco Neilson Martin Indang.
He said the Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) state government’s effort in getting the Federal Government to agree for an increase in the annual special grant amount owed to the state had been a success.
However, Indang said the 40% of the net revenue derived by the federation must be returned to Sabah, adding that this was the basis for Sabah to agree to form the Federation of Malaysia in 1963.
“The Sabah government has always been fighting for the 40% revenue. Since 1963, we’ve been receiving only RM26mil (annual special grant) from the Federal Government every year,” he said.
Under the GRS government, he said, Sabah managed to get a five-fold increase to RM125.6mil every year.
“This has never been achieved before and it was a mighty effort on our part to get this for our state.”
Indang stressed that the increase does not mean that the Sabah government will surrender the return of the state’s 40% net revenues under Article 112C and Part V of the 10th Schedule in the Constitution and its mandatory five-year reviews under Article 112D.
In April, the Federal Government reached an agreement with the GRS state government on the contentious issue of the annual special grant amount owed to Sabah. The amount will be increased every year from 2023 to 2026.
In a joint statement then between Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob and Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor, the leaders announced that negotiations for the claims of 40% of the total income from Sabah would continue.
Barisan Nasional maintained the RM26.7mil from 1974 to 2018 and was continued by the Pakatan Harapan government until 2019. About RM53.4mil was paid in 2020.
However, the GRS state government did not agree with the amount. This was revised to RM125.6mil for 2022.
