WHILE lauding Finance Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz’s hints that he may reinstate the Goods and Services Tax (GST), former premier Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak urged the former to exercise caution.
“I hope the finance minister will educate his former boss before that. I’m worried the eighth prime minister may hit the streets to oppose GST to hoodwink the public,” he mocked in a Facebook post.
In April 2015, Najib introduced the controversial GST, aimed at increasing the Government’s revenue stream while reducing the country’s dependence on petroleum profits.
However, he exempted a substantial amount of essential items from the tax regime such as rice, groceries and others.
After Pakatan Harapan took over Putrajaya in 2018, it abolished the GST and reverted back to the Sales and Services Tax (SST).
Since COVID-19 hit Malaysian shores and triggered an economic downturn, many experts have urged the Government to reinstate the GST as Government coffers were running low due to excessive spending done to combat the pandemic and provide aid to the public.
Yesterday, Tengku Zafrul hinted that the Government may be reintroducing the GST to help shore up public coffers again in an interview with Sinar Harian.
On that note, Najib agreed with the finance minister’s assertions during the interview, where GST was a more efficient tax regime and can help curb leakages and tax fraud, especially when it comes to dealing with “black economy”.
“The thing is, prices of goods remain the same under SST or GST. The claims saying SST lowers prices of goods are false,” the Pekan MP remarked. – Jan 24, 2022.
