Mahathir asserts no restoration of GST in the works

Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad (above) has asserted that the government has no current plans to restore the goods and services tax (GST).

“We (the government) have not discussed it yet.

“The matter (on whether the government will consider bringing back GST) was asked by reporters, I answered, if this is the request of the people, and as we are sensitive to the wishes of the people, we will study (the request),” he said to reporters when question at the Parliament lobby today.

Mahathir had stated on Thursday Putrajaya would consider studying the restoration of the GST if the people believed it to be better than the sales and service tax (SST), and if they wanted it.

In response, Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng (below) said there must first be “incontrovertible” evidence that the people wanted to restore GST.

Lim added that this could be decided by the Pakatan Harapan presidential council.

Mahathir today, meanwhile, said no study on the matter has been carried out.

“No study has been carried out, and since I made the statement, there has yet to be a presidential council meeting,” he said.

The GST replaced the SST in April 2015.

Eliminating GST has been one of the major election manifesto promises made by Harapan for GE14.

The new government then reinstated SST in September last year, with tax rates varying from 5 percent to 10 percent.

GST had contributed RM44 billion annually, while the Finance Minister had projected in July collection for 2019 to amount to RM22 billion.

https://www.malaysiakini.com/news/485228 --projected

This government said this was because the GST covered a wider scope of items, while fewer things were taxed under the SST.

The government has claimed the new tax system burdened the public less as people were taxed less. - Mkini