THE Penang government has collected a whopping RM1.6 billion in terms of total revenue collection from 2020 until Sept 30 this year despite the economic recession due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow said the components of the total revenue collection include tax revenue, non-tax revenue and non-revenue receipts.
“Under the tax revenue component, it has shown an increase during the three years period, from 2020 until 2022. The breakdown is RM130.07 million in 2020, RM133.33 million (2021) and RM142.41 million (2022).
“As for non-tax revenue, the collection in 2020 was RM254.22 million, RM474.23 million (2021) and RM225.99 million in 2022.
“And for the non-revenue receipts component, the collection in 2020 was RM82.84 million, RM84.68 million (2021) and RM64.79 million in 2022.
“The state government also managed to increase the total revenue collection for 2021 amounting to RM692.24 million, compared to RM467.13 million in 2020.
“And we expect the state’s projected revenue this year to increase as well because we are heading towards endemicity. The current total revenue collection is RM433.19 million as of Sept 30 this year,” Chow told the State Legislative Assembly today.
Chow (PH-Padang Kota) said this in response to an oral question by Nor Hafizah Othman (BN-Permatang Berangan) who wanted to know the state’s performance in terms of total revenue collection.
On a supplementary question by Opposition Leader Datuk Muhamad Yusoff Mohd Nor (BN-Sungai Dua) regarding tax arrears, Chow said the state agencies had taken various efforts over the years to ensure the tax arrears could be collected.
“We will continue with such efforts,” he added.
Story by Riadz Akmal
Pix by Muhamad Amir Irsyad Omar