GST has its good points, says Customs GST director

Customs Department’s GST director believes competition will eventually lead to lower prices

PUTRAJAYA: He has been called many names, disparaging and derogatory but Subromaniam Tholasy just shrugs it off.

Friends and family have said that he is in his own world and has no time for them, strangers have accosted him on the supermarket floor and accused him for the impending GST price hike.

However, Subromaniam, the GST director at the Customs Department, is a firm believer in the positive aspects of the goods and services tax.

“Prices would come down in the longer run due to competition from the reformed tax system,” he said in an interview carried in The Star Online.

People should be fully aware by now that the GST replaces the sales and service tax that was in effect for several decades, said Subromaniam. While the GST is 6%, the sales and service tax was between 5 and 10%.

As in every other price increase the country has experienced before, unscrupulous tradesmen and businesses have further increased prices, and when prices fall, as in fuel prices, this is not reflected in the bill.

Subromaniam and his men may have been planning for GST since 2005 but they have been putting in extra hours, up to 18 hours a day, especially in the months before the introduction of GST.

Countless meetings were held among the Customs officers, with the Finance Ministry people, leading industry players, and each and every individual connected with GST.

It has been especially difficult when it came to free trade zones and other specific businesses which were unique and complex.

“We were unable to provide immediate solutions, so we had to have many technical meetings to look at the problems and respond to them.”

It is not over for yet Subromaniam and his team. They have already gone on the ground today, visiting traders and meeting with people, unhappy or understanding.

Needless to say Subromaniam has had little time for his family and friends since work began on the new tax system.

It helps that his wife is a fellow Customs officer but he has pleaded guilty to the many accusations by friends and family that he has no time for them.

Now Subromaniam is looking forward to having more time to spend with his family, not in the near future though.