KUALA LUMPUR: The government is looking to reduce its dependency on oil revenue to below 30 per cent by broadening the tax base, said Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Seri Abdul Wahid Omar.
He said reducing the dependency on oil revenue would be plausible by improving the collection of other forms of tax revenue and by broadening the tax base with the goods and services tax.
Abdul Wahid, however, declined to specify a timeframe for the target.
“We have commenced to diversify revenue sources and strengthened revenue collection. The government’s revenue was 12.1 per cent higher at RM207.9 billion in 2012 from RM185.4 billion in 2011.
“In 2013, revenue increased further to RM220.4 billion, with the contribution from oil revenue reduced to 31.2 per cent compared with 33.7 per cent in 2012 and 35.8 per cent in 2011,” he told reporters after officiating the Cekal 2014 Entrepreneurial Symposium here yesterday. — Bernama