FEDERAL GOVERNMENT TARGETS REVENUE OF US$53.08 BILLION FOR NEXT YEAR

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 19 (Bernama) -- The Federal government has target revenue of
RM165 billion (US$53.08 billion) for next year, while expenditure has been set
at RM213 billion (US$68.521).

Deputy Minister of Finance, Senator Donald Lim Siang Chai said, federal
government revenue for this year is expected to be RM159 billion (US$51.150
billion).

"This includes revenue from Petronas, corporate taxes and individual taxes," he
said during a media briefing after the launch of the National Seminar on
Taxation 2010 here Tuesday.

He also said some of the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are facing
difficulty in paying taxes as they had not received payments from
government-linked companies (GLCs).

Lim said there is a need to support the SMEs and businessmen, as without them,
there would be no business or collection of taxes, as what had been experienced
in Europe during the global economic crisis.

"Malaysia is now in a transition period, in moving from being a developing to a
developed country. At this juncture, people expect quick decisions.

"There is also a need to collect for more taxes for the country's
development," he explained.

The chief executive officer of the Inland Revenue Board (IRB), Hasmah Abdullah
said tax collection for this year is expected to amount to RM84 billion
(US$27.001 billion) and to date, 78 per cent of the amount has beencollected.