BANGI, Dec 20 — A DAP leader today requested that Putrajaya consider charging its newly introduced departure levy only on rich travellers who opt for premium flights and services.
DAP Socialist Youth’s (DAPSY) national vice chief, Muhammad Shakir Ameer, said that those who opt to travel on luxury cruise ships as well as private jets should also be subjected to the levy.
“And of course, if you want something extra, you pay for it. And if you want something comfortable; like compared to Malaysia Airlines, there’s Singapore Airlines, you pay extra for it.
“So ideally, the government could consider charging the departure levy on passengers who are taking premium flights, compared to the low-cost flights. People pay premium prices for cruise ships, and I think it’s only fair.
“Private jets, I’m sure there are many tycoons who own private jets when they go abroad. Since the government is already firm on imposing the departure tax, maybe we can start with the premium ones first,” he told a forum on aviation at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) here.
Shakir told the audience that he would also be seeking an appointment with Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng to discuss his proposal.
The Pakatan Harapan (PH) government introduced the departure levy in Budget 2019, proposing to charge RM20 for those departing for Asean nations and RM40 for other countries.
Last month, Transport Minister Anthony Loke reportedly said that the government was in the midst of studying the levy mechanism, before it is implemented from June next year.
National newswire Bernama reported Loke as saying that the manner in which the levy would be collected — whether added to the Passenger Service Charge (PSC) or collected by the Customs Department or the Immigration Department — had yet to be finalised.
Banker Mohshin Aziz, who is the associate director at Maybank Kim, disagreed with Shakir’s proposal.
“Unfortunately, if you do that, then the amount collected will be very, very miniscule, because the percentage of business class and first class (users) in Malaysia, I think it’s only 2 per cent of total passengers.
“So the amount of money that you will be able to collect is probably between RM20 million and RM30 million. That’s not going to change anything,” Mohshin told Malay Mail on the sidelines of the forum.
He, however, said users of high-end travel options could be charged more than the average travellers.
“I mean if we look into countries like Hong Kong and the UK, if you take business or first class, your government tax or airport tax automatically is double. So you can follow that, if you want to copy that as your model.
“I think you can still justify, because business-class passengers, they get more space at the airport. When they go to the airport, they get their own dedicated check-in terminal, own dedicated security and all that stuff.
“Another thing is that they do occupy more space in the aircraft,” Mohshin added.
