Going out for lunch, your priority would be to find the most affordable meal to save your money. You enter the first food stall that sells fried rice at cheap price, but when you are about to pay, the price is suddenly higher than on the menu. You then realize there’s tax included in the bill, and you have no choice but to pay or else you’re holding up the line.
Tax makes food more expensive, so why do we need to pay for tax?
Imagine this: you are eating a breakfast set which showed as RM8.90 in the menu. So, you ordered that one because it’s cheap, but when you want to pay, it suddenly becomes RM10.90. You complained to the manager about the price, and you don’t want to pay it. The next time you eat at the same place and ordered the same set, the taste is horrible. Why? Because you refuse to pay the food last time, so the cook made a horrible breakfast set for you.
Same goes with tax. The government provided you with citizenship, place to stay and protection, so paying tax is like giving back what is owed. Like you pay a rent or paying a security guard, so they’ll protect you.
What Is Tax
Tax is a mandatory payment imposed on the people in a country to the government as a funding for future country projects.
You could say that tax is like a subscription for Netflix or Disney+. You fund the platform or company to give you the best movies, shows and dramas to watch. Think of you funding the government so you can have better quality of life like easier access to public transports or better health care.
Is Paying Tax Important?
Can you watch movies on Netflix after you cancel your subscription? If the answer is no, then the same can be said for tax.
Even if you purchase items online, you still need to pay tax. It may not show up or not as much on the bill, but if you ever compare them to retail price, one of them might be cheaper than the other. An example like you want to buy a couch on Shopee, but you decide to check it first at their physical. When you check the price, you realize the retail price is cheaper than online price.
Tax may make items more expensive but if it means getting a good quality item, it’s a price worth to be paid.
What Happens If You Don’t Pay Tax?
If you don’t pay the government tax, then you can’t get privileges like ‘Bantuan Rakyat 1Malaysia‘ (BR1M) or ‘e-Pemula‘ incentives. The government wouldn’t have enough funds for housing projects or building hospitals or schools if no one pays tax.
The government uses the tax money to maintain public infrastructure and fund public services. If no one pays tax, sinkholes in roads won’t be covered and schools and hospitals will be abandoned.
Even businesses need to pay tax. Businesses that don’t pay tax may have their licenses revoked and have to close down because they didn’t comply to the tax law.
Tax Still Tax
If you’re the same as me and do not have any accounting knowledge, do not be afraid if you are struggling to digest all these taxes related information. However, luck for all of us, MISHU has experts that can help solve your tax problem and even help you better understand the tax structure of your company. PssPss… Just letting you know, if you ask nicely, MISHU can also teach you the hacks of decreasing the tax you will need to pay!