The Income Tax Act does not bar the government from revealing the total amount of income taxes collectively paid by the richest people in Malaysia, says Kelana Jaya MP Wong Chen. 
 
This is in contradiction with what Deputy Finance Minister Ahmad Maslan said when replying to a question from Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim. 
 
“There is no provision in Section 138 that says a collective number cannot be disclosed. 
 
“(The Inland Revenue Board) is happy to say that it will collect RM140 billion this year from 2.3 million tax payers and 100,000 companies. That's a collective number. 
 
“So why can't they announce a collective number of how much the combined 20 richest persons pay?” he asked in a Facebook post last night. 
 
Further, the MP said, Section 138(2)(c) of the Income Tax Act actually gives the minister discretionary powers to disclose information when he sees fit. 
 
However, Wong did not note that Section 138(2)(c) only pertains to disclosure of information in court proceedings. 
 
It states that “no classified material shall be produced or used in court or otherwise, except with the written authority of the minister, or of the person or partnership to whose affairs it relates.”
 
Yesterday, Ahmad told the Dewan Rakyat he could not disclose the tax paid by the top 20 richest people in Malaysia as it goes against Section 138 of the Income Tax Act. 
 
He was responding to Anwar, who named the son of former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Mokhzani, and business tycoons T Ananda Krishnan and Vincent Tan as among the top 20 richest people in Malaysia. 
 
When asked by Sim Tze Tsin (PKR-Bayan Baru) to give a lump sum figure instead, Ahmad said he needed to check if this was allowed.