Zahid: Rising prices of goods not due to GST

Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi today praised the rigorous action taken by the Customs Department in implementing the GST system.

He said that people should not blame the department for acting firmly on the matter, because the implementation of the GST is to strengthen the country's economy.

"The GST problem has not been settled yet, some say that GST has caused the cost of living to go up, I want to ask, in which country are prices of goods coming down, which means, the prices of goods are going up not because of the GST.

“GST actually improves on the SST (sales and service tax) which was implemented before this," he said.

"Those who are angry at GST, are those who want to run away from taxes," he said when speaking at the Customs Department's Motivation and Community Service programme at Tamil National Type Schools in Bagan Datuk today.

Also present were Rungkup state assemblyperson Shahrul Zaman Yahya and Customs director-general T Subromaniam.

Zahid, who is also the home minister, said GST was the most efficient tax system, which had also been implemented in other countries.

"The tax rate (GST) on the people (in Malaysia) is only six percent, compared to other countries, where tax rates reach up to 22.5 percent," he said, adding that Customs worked as a team to ensure GST collection could be implemented well.

Meanwhile, Zahid, who is also Bagan Datuk MP, said 16 SJKTs in the constituency were involved in the motivational camp organised by the Customs Department.

"Education is a priority. I do not consider whether it is a Malay, Chinese or Indian student when providing assistance, because I want Bagan Datuk to be number one in education," he said.

- Bernama