Mahiaddin Yassin and PN must not violate established legal principles of natural justice!
DAP Secretary-General Lim Guan Eng in a speech yesterday warned the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government against arbitrarily victimising businesses and taxpayers that are already under economic recession just in order to fill in their coffers. This was after Prime Minister, Muhyiddin Yassin (real name: Mahiaddin Yassin) admitting that his PN Federal Government has not much money left.
During a speech at the Assembly of DAP Parliamentary Liaison Committees of Bagan, Tasek Gelugor and Permatang Pauh in Butterwoth yesterday, Lim referred to the newly introduced Section 103B of the Income Tax Act by PN which practically forces taxpayers to ‘pay first and talk later’, whereby they can’t even plead to the High Court for a stay order as it was the case previously. In relation to this, Lim decries this move and called it a denial of the right of natural justice to the taxpayer and the courts’ jurisdiction.
Lim, who is also the Member of Parliament for Bagan asserted,
“In the past taxpayers often plead to the High Court for a stay order where the taxpayer is allowed to withhold payment of the tax assessment until the disposal of the case.“
“The introduction of this new section 103B, gazetted on 31 December 2020, would force the taxpayer to pay first regardless of how unfair or unreasonable the assessment.”
The amendment of the Income Tax Act has given powers to the Inland Revenue Department (LHDN) to demand payment from businesses already suffering from the Covid-19 economic recession. The newly introduced Section 103B makes tax payable notwithstanding the “institution of any proceedings under any other written law” is an extreme bullying of the rakyat by PN.
Hence, PN should not be so desperate to fill in their coffers through high-handed and arbitrarily victimising the rakyat suffering under the Covid-19 economic recession. Lim thus urge PN to abolish the unfair provision in Section 103 of the Income Tax Act and iterated,
“If PN refuses to abolish such an unfair provision in Section 103, then only a change a government can stop the extreme bullying by the PN government.”
The PN government running short of funds can be attributed to its failure to manage the pandemic as well as its bloated Cabinet that’s eating up valuable resources for no reason other than to entice support from MPs with positions. PN has spent RM622 billion on various Covid-19 economic stimulus packages but have failed to impact Malaysia’s economy positively due to incompetence and its instability being a worry for investors. – The Rocket.
