The Comparison Between Zakat for Income and Income Tax: Perceptions of Academician in The State of Perak

Abstract

Zakat (Islamic concept of taxation) is one of the branches of wealth that is discrepancy and is obligated upon every Muslim. It can be integrated as an instrument to keep the social assurance system sturdy and firm. Although, it has been obligated by Majlis Fatwa Kebangsaan Malaysia (The National Fatwa Council of Malaysia) in 1997, the state of Perak has gazette the collection of zakat as nonobligatory in 2004. On the other hand, income tax is one of the country’s revenue which is applied by the government that governs. The question here is, the awareness of the academician in the public higher learning institutions throughout the state of Perak on their responsibilities in paying zakat is unfortunately low. Therefore, the objective of this research is to look into the academician perceptions and understanding on zakat compared to income tax. This descriptive research will also show that majority of the respondents agreed zakat collecting system in Perak is lack of effectiveness, without action and resoluteness in the applied regulations and lack of effectiveness in dividing the zakat itself has affected the payment of zakat (income). Thus, several ideas have been discussed and suggested in this research, in order to improve zakat institution performance on collecting zakat in Perak.