PASIR GUDANG: After much negative public feedback, the Pasir Gudang City Council (MBPG) will not be revising its assessment tax that had previously been scheduled for Jan 1.
Pasir Gudang mayor Datuk Asman Shah Abd Rahman (pic) said the decision was made following objections from property owners against the new assessment tax during discussions on Sunday and Monday.
“We found out that there were technical issues that we would need to review in terms of the rate and assessment.
“For example, for strata properties, they will be given options to choose between having a lower rate or having MBPG’s services.
“Usually, the local council only collects tax from these properties, and the services are handled by their joint management body (JMB),” he said in an interview after chairing the MBPG full board meeting at Menara Aqabah here yesterday.
The MBPG, he said, had previously proposed to implement an assessment tax of 8% annually for the next five years but was rejected as there were no laws that supported such an implementation.
“This is much better for the people and for the local council because, after five years, the increase is only 40%.
“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 fairer to the people in Pasir Gudang,” he said.
Pasir Gudang, said Asman Shah, was previously managed by Johor Corporation (JCorp), which was why the assessment rate was quite high compared to those in other local councils, such as Johor Baru City Council (MBJB), Iskandar Puteri City Council (MBIP) and Kulai Municipal Council (MPKu).
“This time, we are trying to find a more reasonable rate for all, and we have also taken up areas that were previously under MBJB and MBIP after the redelineation.
“We cannot have too many different assessment taxes in one council.
“However, we also found out that if we lower the rate for all the properties under MBPG, we would lose about 30% of the revenue from what we have already implemented.
“We have decided that we will study this matter further until the new rate for assessment tax in five years,” he added.
Asman Shah said to date, the unpaid tax in Pasir Gudang was at RM51mil.
“The majority of those not paying taxes are homeowners, with only 60% handing in their dues while the remaining 40% are not.
“But we are lucky because the industries have a paying rate of 95% and businesses at 80%,” he said, adding that there were property owners who had not paid tax for more than 10 years.
“We can seize their property, but we also need to be humane and more understanding. There are many people who lost their jobs during the pandemic.
“Even during the pandemic, we have never stopped providing our services for the people, which is why our amenities, especially roads in Pasir Gudang, are in much better conditions now,” he said.
Five local councils in Johor were reportedly revising their assessment payable, which takes effect on Jan 1.
Besides MBPG, the others are MBIP, MBJB, Kluang Municipal Council (MPK) and Pengerang Municipal Council (MPP).
