VIDEO l 5:44 min

The amendments to the Income Tax Act 1967, which have been tabled by the government, go against a promise made by Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak that the Private Retirement Scheme (PRS) would be tax free, PKR said today.

The current amendments tabled in the Dewan Rakyat proposes that a person who withdraws from PRS before the retirement age of 55, except for emergency cases, would be taxed based on the amount withdrawn.

However, PKR's strategy director Rafizi Ramli said in a statement today, Najib had, while launching the scheme in 2012, given his assurance that any income or gain from the scheme will be tax-free in order to encourage more people to participate in it.

NONE "This has now become a practice for BN to break its promises that were made before the 13th general election.

"With these amendments, investors have to pay more taxes than the tax relief they get to invest in the scheme," Rafizi ( left ) added.

The amendments also empower the government to collect corporate taxes from any shareholder with shares above 20 percent or any director who is deemed to have control of a company.

Rafizi said this effectively destroyed the corporate veil between company liabilities and individual liabilities.

"I challenged the finance minister yesterday that if the government wants to destroy the corporate veil in taxation, the same approach must be used in collecting debts from individuals who are involved in taxpayers' money scandals.

"This includes destroying the separation between the National Feedlot Centre directors and the company itself in repaying the RM250 million soft loan that was given to NFC from the government," he said.

Rafizi said the directors of NFC, who are family members of Wanita Umno chief Shahrizat Abdul Jalil, can "no longer hide" behind excuses that the loan was taken by the company.