ISKANDAR PUTERI: The Johor government has reiterated its call to Putrajaya to consider returning a portion of the tax revenues collected from the state.
Menteri Besar Datuk Onn Hafiz Ghazi said that returning at least 20 per cent of tax revenues was important to ensure the state could be developed more comprehensively for both current and future generations.
Onn Hafiz repeated the call in the Johor State Legislative Assembly today, saying it was in line with the decree of the Regent of Johor, Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim, on the matter.
"The Johor government once again requests and appeals to the federal government to consider returning at least 20 per cent of the tax revenues collected in the state back to Johor," he said.
In response to a question from Johor Speaker Datuk Mohd Puad Zarkashi on the quantum of revenue requested from Putrajaya, Onn Hafiz said the state is currently seeking 20 per cent.
"We are asking for 20 per cent, but if the federal government wants to give us 10 per cent first, that is acceptable," the Machap assemblyman said.
"Let me give you an example: the Seri Medan constituency has requested RM10 million from the state. Johor has 56 constituencies, so if all of them ask for funds, that would total over half a billion ringgit."
In June, it was reported that Johor had requested 30 per cent of the tax revenue derived from the state.
Previously, Tunku Ismail also called for the return of up to 30 per cent of tax revenue from the state.
Then, he said that Johor contributed around RM48 billion in tax revenue to the federal government but only received RM1.4 billion in return.