MIRI – Putrajaya must convince Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) which is part of the federal government not to enforce a hike in land taxes or quit rent in the state, local opposition Parti Sarawak Bersatu (PSB) said.
The increase, which was announced on Wednesday and takes effect tomorrow, runs counter to the focus of the new government to reduce the cost of living, said PSB vice-president Datuk Lawrence Lai.
The senior lawyer and former Miri mayor said federal leaders must look into the policies being implemented at state level and review those that will burden the people.
“The move is being done at a time when we are heading into an anticipated recession.
“The people in business trading and other commercial sectors were not given a chance to have their say.”
Lai questioned how GPS, which is the ruling coalition in Sarawak, could go ahead with the decision which he said was not in line with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s pledges to reduce the cost of living.
“We the rakyat in Sarawak call on PM (prime minister) Anwar and the federal administration to urgently convince GPS not to go ahead with the land tax hike,” Lai told The Vibes.
He also said that the increase was announced with little warning, and this would affect business owners.
The announcement by the Sarawak Land and Survey Department was made on Wednesday and will apply to various categories of properties throughout the state, except residential and land less than 100 acres (40.47ha).
Sarawak Pakatan Harapan (PH) information chief Abun Sui also said the increase will burden businesses and those in the industrial sector, as well as those managing large farms.
“How can GPS justify such a decision?” he told reporters in Miri.
Sui, who is also Sarawak Parti Keadilan Rakyat deputy chairman, said the GPS must call for proper dialogues with all the affected business, industrial and agricultural sectors.
The state land and survey department said the increase will not involve land that was cleared by excise duty in 2016, and that it is also “relatively lower compared to the land tax imposed by other states”.
In its notice, the increments will be as follows: for shophouses, from RM0.22per sqm to RM1.62 per sqm; for port, mining and mineral and quarrying use, RM0.20 to RM1.46 per sqm; and for industrial use, from RM0.09 to RM0.43 per sqm.
The hike will also apply to land used for mixed development from RM0.05 to RM0.23 per sqm, for recreational use from RM0.03 to RM0.12 per sqm, for the use of the oil and gas industry at a rate of RM0.54 per sqm, and for other uses of land from RM0.02 to RM0.08 per sqm.
Agricultural land with an area of more than 100 acres (40.47ha) that is used for commercial purposes will be taxed RM30.00 per ha.
Some 59,710 land and property owners in the state will be affected by the rate increase. That number is about 8% of the overall population of property owners statewide.
This latest hike in quit rent is a revision of the rates that had been imposed since the last revision in 1994 under the State Land Code, the department said. – The Vibes, December 31, 2022
