Payments to the taxman may be less painful next year, with MCA president Liow Tiong Lai expressing optimism that the personal income tax rate can be lowered in Budget 2018.

Liow, who is also transport minister, said he had first proposed that the government lower income tax from 19 percent to 18 percent last year.

However, he said, Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak had told him it was not a good time to lower tax rates as the government was unsure how much it would receive from the goods and services tax, as its collection was not yet stable then.