Kuching Autistic Association: Inheritance Tax will burden families with disabled children

KUCHING (Oct 11): The proposed reintroduction of Inheritance Tax will unnecessarily impact heirs, particularly families with disabled children, said Kuching Autistic Association (KAA) founding president Roselind Wee.

Wee, also the advisor to the association, stressed that the inheritance tax would only create additional burden to the heirs, thus, called upon Putrajaya not to have it reintroduced in the upcoming Budget 2025.

“As parents to a physically challenged child, we work extremely hard to save and buy properties to ensure that our children are well provided for when we are gone.

“The inheritance tax will burden our physically challenged children and their siblings, and if they can’t afford to pay the tax, they may be forced to sell the properties,” she said.

This, she opined, defeats the parents’ purpose of saving their hard-earned money for their children’s future.

The worst-case scenario, she added, was when the families have more than one disabled child to take care of.

Present KAA President Catherine Chen echoed this sentiment, stressing on the life-long support aids that were often required by these individuals with special needs.

“Having children with special needs require lifelong support. Parents or caregivers have to spend a lot of money on therapy and healthcare for their disabled children, even when they are adults.

“Some of the more severe ones will need assisted living for their whole lives,” she pointed out, highlighting the additional burden that the families would face should the inheritance tax be reintroduced.

Chen was also of the view that the current RM4,000 income tax relief to ease financial commitments on early intervention for children with disabilities, as rather low.

The aging parents and/or siblings, she explained, will still have to fork out to assist their physically challenged family members with living services or to pay for the services of full-time caregivers.

“All these can be very expensive,” she said.

In this regard, she proposed an increase in the tax relief limit for therapies, medical treatment expenses, and other services involving people with special needs.

“There should be no age limit or on the amount claimable as most people with disabilities will need supported care for life,” she said.

A comprehensive tax relief system that looks into all these factors, she stressed, is crucial to ensure equity in taxation and will benefit the vulnerable groups of families who have disabled children.