Abolish extra taxes on palm oil, fix worker issues, govt told

 

A company involved in the oil palm industry is paying taxes equivalent to about 60% corporate tax, according to DAP’s Ngeh Koo Ham. (Bernama pic)

PETALING JAYA: The government should abolish all extra taxes on the struggling palm oil industry and focus on workers’ issues in the sector, an opposition MP said today.

Beruas MP Ngeh Koo Ham said with the 8% export tax levied on crude palm oil (CPO) beginning this year and the increase of the Malaysian Palm Oil Board’s (MPOB) cess from RM14 per tonne to RM16 per tonne of CPO, companies are being wrung dry.

“Currently with various taxes imposed namely, the MPOB cess, windfall tax, sales tax and export tax, a company involved in the oil palm industry is paying taxes equivalent to about 60% corporate tax. This is unfair and undermining the palm oil industry,” he said in a statement today.

He added that despite the surge in CPO prices to over RM3,500 per tonne currently, many smallholders are unable to benefit due to the taxes and low seasonal yield at this time of year.

“With the low production for January till March, the plantations and smallholders are struggling to cover the cost of production.

“I urge the government to abolish all taxes exclusively imposed on the palm oil industry and impose only personal income tax or corporate tax like all other businesses.”

Turning to the issue of legalising foreign workers under the government’s Recalibration Plan, Ngeh said it has failed as a result of the difficult conditions imposed and excessive bureaucratic red tape.

The Perak DAP leader proposed a number of solutions to help businesses register their workers.

“The Perikatan Nasional government should make the Labour Department a one-stop centre to legalise the illegal workers in Peninsular Malaysia and they should set up at least one centre in every district to process the applications due to the huge number of illegal foreign workers that need to be legalised.

“The government must also do away with the current policy of only allowing employers to legalise foreign workers who are already under their employment and new hires that are taken from the immigration detention depots.”

Ngeh said that many companies do not have records for their illegal workers and thus cannot prove their employment, and that the costs associated with hiring workers from detention is a deterrent to some businesses.

He added that improving the process would not only help the palm oil sector but also give workers the legal assurances needed for many to feel comfortable volunteering to receive the Covid-19 vaccine. - FMT