PETALING JAYA: A PAS leader has come under fire for criticising the removal of the goods and services tax (GST) by the Pakatan Harapan government after it won the last general election in 2018.
Perak PAS chief Razman Zakaria claimed in a Facebook post that this decision had set the country’s economic growth back by 50 years.
“PH’s most unwise decision was abolishing the GST and replacing it with the SST (sales and service tax). This decision has set back the country’s economy by 50 years.
“The price of goods can no longer be controlled, with some making huge profits in the process while the government’s revenue is declining,” he said.
However, his statement has drawn criticism from netizens as PAS had strongly opposed the implementation of GST when it was part of the opposition before the 2018 elections.
Describing the party members as “hypocrites”, some netizens shared past statements made by PAS rejecting the GST before it became part of the ruling government last year.
Among others, a Facebook user, Wfauzdin Ns, said in 2018, PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang had launched PAS’ Gagasan Sejahtera election manifesto which among others was aimed at taxing the rich and abolishing tolls, GST and National Higher Education Fund Corporation (PTPTN) loans.
Instead of GST, Gagasan proposed a tax on corporate savings and stocks traded on Bursa Malaysia.
Another Facebook user, Mohamad Jamalee, commented: “When you were in the opposition, all you did was criticise the government. Now that you are part of the government, when are you going to do what you promised?”
Previously, finance minister Tengku Zafrul Aziz said Malaysia was facing a revenue crunch as the government was spending more on fighting Covid-19, with no more GST revenue for the country.
He said this revenue loss was the reason why the government could not spend more on the latest Pemerkasa Plus package to help people and businesses tide over this lockdown. - FMT
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