hi lucifah,

i empathize with those whose income tax bracket is fast approaching the highest tier bracket.

a solely salary-worker will have little reprieve as the government will find ways to disqualify/reduce exemptions and rebates over time (while having a balancing act at appeasing other groups of benefactors)

i did thought about extremes, such as working in a tax-free environment (which may either include a company that provide tax-free compensation or at a country that does not have any income tax)

if the main bulk of your rm 70,000 annual income derives from employment, then there's little room to maneuver (whatever reductions are already at max level and it's just too little to bring down the stated income).. oh, forget about those insurance thingy as mentioned by some folks here, i'm sure you're not crazy to buy into that just for the rebates.

the reality is, moving forward to a high employment income earner, comes with it a great responsibility/accountability which restrict alot in terms of seeking additional stream(s) of business to park/protect/preserve one's income. conflict of interest may arise and you may be required to reduce your own participation in those avenues where you can seek a little more protection to your income as a whole.

this is where a full business owner/man/woman have advantage over salary worker..

the question that i asked myself occasionally.. am i ready to go into this "arena" full time? mind you, my income tax is 5-digit and i feel the pain (whenever the government screw around with public funds)