‘DOUBLE WHAMMY’? DON’T WATCH TOO MANY CARTOONS NAJIB – FINISH YOUR DEGREE IN ECONOMICS INSTEAD: SST WON’T RAISE COST OF LIVING, SAYS DR M – EVEN AS KIAN MING RIPS APART BN’S LIE SST IS 16% VS THEIR GST OF 6%

PRIME Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad said the sales and services tax (SST) will not raise the cost of living, as speculated by his predecessor, Najib Razak.

SST will only affect selected services, unlike the goods and services tax (GST) introduced during Najib’s administration, which is a broad-based consumption tax, the 93-year-old leader said.

“It is 10%, if you purchase. If you don’t purchase, you don’t pay.

“Whereas GST is a tax at the source, so whether you buy or not, everything will go up in price,”   Dr Mahathir said at the Parliament lobby today.

The Pakatan Harapan chairman also said the government would be looking to repeal the GST in this Parliament session.

“We have zero-rated GST, so what we have to do now is to ensure that Parliament repeals the law.”

Najib told reporters at Parliament today that SST would raise the cost of living. Prices of goods had not come down enough even with zero-rated GST and imposing SST would be “a double whammy”, he said.

The government is to reintroduce the sales tax at 10% and service tax at 6% from September 1, Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng said yesterday. – https://www.themalaysianinsight.com

It’s not 16pct SST – deputy minister explains the mechanics

Deputy International Trade and Industry Minister Ong Kian Ming said adding up two different categories of the sales and services tax (SST) to 16 percent was a case of wrong calculation.

Ong, who formerly served as the special officer to the finance minister, said the 10 percent rate was specific to goods while the six percent is for services and should not be mixed up.

“I feel that there are many people who are confused about the SST, where sales tax will be 10 percent and services tax 6 percent.

“Actually the two taxes have their differences. The sales tax will only be charged on products which are made at the factory while services tax is only charged for services.

“So, we can’t just join it as 16 percent,” he told journalists at the Parliament lobby today.

The Bangi MP noted this while there is a debate over whether the SST system will be better than the previous tax regime which uses the goods and services tax (GST) system at a rate of six percent.

However, Ong said a simple measure is to look at the total tax collection under each system.

“The GST generated a revenue of about RM42 billion a year for the government.

“But under the SST, only RM21 billion will be collected. I think this will benefit the rakyat as (the difference) is returned to the people,” he said.

He added that many items that were previously taxed under the GST system will be exempted under the SST regime.

“The overall impact will be a lower cost of living,” Ong added.

-M’kini