Inheritance tax will burden middle-class families, says think tank

 

Family-run businesses and middle-class families would be worse affected by the proposed reintroduction of inheritance tax, said Insap.

PETALING JAYA: 

A think tank has objected to a proposed reintroduction of the inheritance tax in the 2025 Budget among other measures to increase federal government revenue.

The inheritance tax would be counterproductive in making up the shortfall in government revenues, said the Institute of Strategic Analysis and Policy Research (Insap).

Pamela Yong.

Insap chairman Pamela Yong said in a statement that middle-class families and small business owners would be worse affected by the reintroduction of the tax, which was abolished in 1991.

Many small and medium-sized enterprises which are family-run would face an unnecessary financial burden, which could stifle entrepreneurship and discourage wealth creation of the middle- class.

Yong was commenting on a Utusan Malaysia report which suggested that the new federal budget would impose five new taxes: the inheritance tax, an unhealthy food tax, carbon pricing tax, high-value goods tax, and artificial intelligence (AI) tax.

She said feedback from the various grassroots showed that goods and services tax 

is still regarded as a better tax system compared to sales and service tax, as it has a broader and more efficient tax base

. - FMT