Jomo said doing this, and reducing taxes, were some of the ways to improve taxation without changing tax rates, when asked by reporters if the government should increase corporate taxes.

“You have to remember that Malaysia has been offering tax incentives since the 1950s. The original reason may be good, but the conditions have changed.

“What’s the point of offering incentives for something which is not quite relevant but where the company involved is still taking advantage of that?” he asked reporters at a press conference here today.

He said tax breaks should be given to companies which invested more as they were benefitting the nation’s economy, as opposed to companies which manipulated tax incentives to give senior officials or directors bigger bonuses.

“Basically, what you want is smart taxation. You want to have economic incentives, but meaningful economic incentives,” he said.

“You want to reward entrepreneurship, not discourage it.”