KUALA LUMPUR – Malaysia’s sin tax sourced from the Entertainments Duty Act 1953 requires an amendment, seeing that the 25% levy is also applied to family theme parks such as Sunway Lagoon, said Maszlee Malik (Simpang Renggam-Independent).
The former education minister explained that the colonial-era tax was first formed to address “sinful” entertainment activities such as gambling, night clubs and other forms of adult entertainment.
“The law, which was passed in 1953 during the British era, is to tax entertainment premises, such as dancing cabarets, gambling, games, night clubs and even strip shows back then.
“Therefore, it was called a ‘sin tax’.
“The problem is that this obsolete tax is still being used on family theme parks or water theme parks such as Sunway Lagoon and other theme parks for children.
“Children go to places like Legoland, but these theme parks are being levied with the same sin tax. Yet, these theme parks are sinless,” Maszlee pointed out.
“The law [was] to tax entertainment premises such as dancing cabarets, gambling, games, night clubs and even strip shows back then.”
— TheVibes.com (@thevibesnews) November 24, 2021
Yet, according to @maszlee, theme parks such as Sunway Lagoon and Legoland are being levied with the same sin tax pic.twitter.com/whFgewZ9Vh
The independent lawmaker then explained that theme park operators were forced to increase their ticket price and pass the buck to the consumers because they are required to pay the sin tax.
He then pointed out that theme parks have been attracting around seven million visitors, where 30% of those are international tourists.
“In 2019, RM3.12 billion was generated by these family theme parks. Therefore, I ask the Finance Ministry to look back at family theme parks.
“Other forms of entertainment are fine with being sin taxed.
“The theme park industry has suffered RM5 billion in losses since the lockdown, which can lead to 15,000 workers losing their jobs,” said Maszlee.
He proposed that the government should extend the exemption on sin tax from two years, which will end next year, until a proper amendment has been made.
On October 30, Malaysian Association of Theme Park & Family Attractions president Richard Koh had called for a review on the Entertainments Duty Act, describing it as archaic and outdated.
Similar to Maszlee, Koh noted that when the Act was first implemented, it targeted cabaret dancing, gaming, boxing, nightclubs and strip shows, but since then, family entertainment has evolved and is now much more wholesome.
“Theme parks, waterparks and family entertainment centres are recreational activities. Zoos, museums, skating rinks, swimming pool activities and other participatory sports should also be classified as recreational businesses.”
In his statement, he explained that theme parks require a lot of capital with a long period before any return of investments can be seen.
He added that one of the reasons Malaysia cannot realise its dream of becoming the theme park capital for Southeast Asia is due to the fact that its neighbours are not constrained by such “punitive entertainment tax”. – The Vibes, November 24, 2021
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