JOHOR BARU, Nov 21 — Following concerns raised by residents, the Pasir Gudang City Council (MBPG) said today it will not be implementing the new assessment tax that is scheduled to take effect on January 1 next year.

The decision was supported by Pasir Gudang Mayor Datuk Asman Shah Abd Rahman together with nine local authority councillors (PBT) following a meeting earlier, and was made after the Assessment and Property Tax Committee agreed to review the matter.

"The MBPG council have taken a stand of not approving the list of new valuations and tax rates on holdings within Pasir Gudang.

"We have requested that MBPG revise and submit a new proposal paper for a lower property tax rate than the current recommendation,” said MBPG in a statement here.

Previously, Pasir Gudang residents had actively objected to the proposed tax increase of between 40 and 50 per cent starting next year, as it was deemed burdensome and not commensurate with the quality of services provided.

According to MBPG chief whip Datuk Mohd Amin Ahmad, the proposed assessment hike was previously mooted based on the last increase that was made 10 years ago.

He said that in practice, a review and hike of assessment rates should be made every five years.

According to MBPG, the decision to review the new assessment rate was made under Section 143 of the Local Government Act 1976 because it wanted to lower the assessment to a reasonable rate and did not want to burden taxpayers.

"Our position is also in line with the statement by the Johor Menteri Besar [Datuk Onn Hafiz Ghazi] and the State Housing and Local Government Committee chairman [Datuk Mohd Jafni Md Shukor] that the proposed MBPG assessment rate is quite high and needs to be reviewed.

"We council members will ensure that this issue can be resolved as best as possible. At the same time, we want to make sure that the welfare and well-being of the Pasir Gudang community is always prioritised,” read the statement.

At present, five local councils in Johor are expected to revise the assessment rates which will take effect on January 1 next year.

Besides MBPG, the other local councils are Iskandar Puteri City Council (MBIP), Johor Baru City Council (MBJB), Kluang Municipal Council (MPK), and Pengerang Municipal Council (MPP).