PASIR GUDANG: The Pasir Gudang City Council (MBPG) will not be implementing the new assessment tax that is scheduled to take effect on Jan 1 next year, says whip chief Datuk Mohd Amin Ahmad.
He said the decision was made after the Assessment and Property Tax Committee agreed to further review the matter.
The decision was also approved by Pasir Gudang mayor Datuk Asman Shah Abd Rahman, who chaired the full council meeting at Menara Aqabah, here, on Tuesday (Nov 21).
“There are seven councillors in the committee who represent all of us, and we have unanimously decided not to accept the proposed new assessment tax.
“This means that the council will still be using the previous rate in 2013 and will not be implementing the new assessment tax next year,” he said when met after the meeting.
Mohd Amin added that the council will need to come up with a new proposal to be sent to the Johor State Government Council (MMK) meeting to be reviewed and then approved by the councillors.
“All of this process will need to start from scratch, so one month will not be enough, which means any new rate will only be imposed in January 2025,” he explained.
Meanwhile, Asman Shah shared that the council has organised a discussion with property owners who have objected to the new assessment tax on Sunday (Nov 19) and Monday (Nov 20).
“We found out there are technical issues that we will need to review in terms of the rate and assessment.
“For example, for strata property, they will be given options to choose between having a lower rate or having MBPG services because usually the local council only collects tax from these properties, and the services are handled by their joint management body (JMB),” he added.
He shared that MBPG had previously proposed to implement an assessment tax of 8% annually for the next five years but was rejected as there are no laws that support such implementation.
“This is much better for the people and for the local council because, after five years, the increase is only 40%.
“So right now, what we can do is inform the state government that MBPG will not be implementing this new rate and will review this matter so that it will be more fair to the people in Pasir Gudang,” he explained.
Five local councils in Johor are revising the assessment payable, which takes effect on Jan 1.
Besides MBPG, the other local councils are Iskandar Puteri City Council (MBIP), Johor Baru City Council (MBJB), Kluang Municipal Council (MPK), and Pengerang Municipal Council (MPP).
