BN has defended itself against accusations that the rate of tax collection outpacing economic growth in the country was due to its alleged excessive spending.

BN Strategic Communications deputy director Eric See-To said that tax collection rate outpacing gross domestic product (GDP) growth was not unusual.

He said this in response to PKR vice president Rafizi Ramli who pointed out that the tax collection in Malaysia was RM60.3 billion in 2010 and had grown to RM112.3 billion this year, at an average growth rate of 11 percent a year, faster than our average GDP growth of five percent.

"He (Rafizi) said this is a bad thing and he compared this to Australia's tax collection average growth of 5.3 percent during the same period.

"However, Rafizi does not state that the GDP growth of Australia is just 2.7 percent during that period meaning that tax collections had also outpaced economic growth there – a fact which completely destroys Rafizi's own argument.

“Australia's example shows that income tax collection outpacing economic growth is not unusual,” See-To said in a statement today...