Teng Chang Khim, the Selangor exco for local government, has rubbished a claim by MCA deputy president Wee Ka Siong that the state government had "raised" the assessment rate and land premium to fund a pay rise for elected representatives.

He is either ignorant or willfully manipulating people by purporting that assessment collection goes into the state coffers, said Teng.

As financially autonomous bodies governed by their own Act, local councils collect assessment rates for their own services and do not feed a single sen of this to the state government, Teng explained.

"On the contrary, the state has to provide grants to local councils so they can provide further services," he said when contacted.

"(Wee, left ) knows this but chooses to confuse the people by playing to the gallery. People look at his statement and say, 'Hey, he's right. It went up by 1,000 percent.’ (But) he is lying."

He added that no local council in the state has raised the assessment rate, but some residents may find that they are paying more after developing their property. This is because the rates are calculated according to the annual rentable value of the property.

As for the case raised by Wee, Teng said  the Kajang resident concerned had built a bungalow on his one acre plot, resulting in the rates going up from RM9.20 to RM622.

"The amount he is paying now is also a reduced rate after he appealed to the Kajang local council and a hearing was held. You should ask Wee how much he pays for his own bungalow. Is it lower than what this man is paying?

"This is a tax ordained by law, so even if (the resident) says he handles his own drainage and so on, the sewerage has to go somewhere. It does not dissipate into thin air.”

‘Market value of land’

On the issue of the land premium, he refuted Wee's claim that the state government is charging an exorbitant sum to feed state coffers.

Although the premium is collected by the state government, Teng said the rate depends on the market value. Land in Selangor is more valuable than that in Johor and Malacca, which Wee had cited.

Selangor's policy of allowing residents to pay only a premium of RM1,000 to extend the leasehold status of land by 99 years is "unprecedented", Teng said, and helps those who have occupied the site for generations but cannot afford the charge to extend the lease.

Although they are not allowed to sell the the land to third parties, they can still use it as collateral.

"It would be unfair for someone to pay the state 50 sen per square foot premium or just RM1,000 for a 99-year lease and then sell the land for RM100 per square feet,” Teng explained.

"He will be pocketing RM99.50 per square feet profit at the state's expense - funds the state could use to provide services to the people.”