Malaysia needs more tax revenue to fund expenditure: OECD

Kuala Lumpur

THE Organisation for Economic Co- operation and Development (OECD) has advised Malaysia to extract more from its goods and services tax (GST) and to increase the number of taxpayers because higher tax revenue will be needed to fund its growing fiscal expenditure amid a greying population.

Its recommendations - which include reducing the number of exempt or zero-rated items from being subject to GST and raising the rate over the medium term - will give Malaysians much pause, but the OECD contends such steps are necessary given the substantial decline in oil revenue.