PARLIAMENT | The government has no plans to impose broad consumption taxes and Goods and Services Tax (GST) on the public.
According to Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, efforts will be made to reduce subsidies for wealthy income groups.
“Although there was an earlier proposal from the previous government to increase electricity tariffs, the current government has reversed that proposal.
“It will only be introduced to the T20 (top 20 percent of income earners) such as MNCs (multinational companies) and big corporations,” he said during the Prime Minister’s Question Time in the Dewan Rakyat today.
Shortly after assuming government office, Anwar announced that electricity tariffs would not be increased for households, small and medium enterprises and food and agricultural companies.
On Dec 14 last year, he said the tariffs would instead be enforced on multinational corporations.
Anwar (Pakatan Harapan-Tambun), who is also the finance minister, said today that measures will be introduced to the T20 to settle the government’s liabilities and debt.
He said the matter will be considered during the tabling of the national budget on Feb 24.
He told the Dewan Rakyat earlier today that the national debt has reached RM1.5 trillion, or 82 percent of the country's gross domestic product (GDP).
The prime minister was responding to Wong Kah Woh (Harapan-Taiping) who asked if the government had plans to introduce more taxes on the people to tackle the national debt.
In June last year, former prime minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob revealed that his administration was studying a proposal to reimplement GST.
This came after he was reported as saying that GST was seen to be able to expand the country's basic income and that the government then did not rule out the possibility of restoring the tax system as an effective way to increase national income.
GST was first implemented on April 1, 2015, during Najib Abdul Razak's administration at a rate of six percent.
It was subsequently suspended on June 1, 2018, soon after the 14th general election and finally abolished when it was replaced with the SST system starting Sept 1, 2018.
The current tax rates for sales tax are five percent and 10 percent, while the service tax rate is six percent.
No issue with PM and finance minister post
Meanwhile, Mohd Radzi Md Jidin (Perikatan Nasional-Putrajaya) questioned if Anwar being both finance minister and prime minister would lead to financial scandals.
Radzi cited the 1MDB, SRC International, and Tabung Haji scandals which occurred during BN’s federal administration.
Anwar acknowledged there was truth to Radzi’s statement but cautioned that PN should not be quick to point fingers.
“There was also a lot of damage (to the nation) during PN’s time,” he said, adding that there are projects approved during PN’s federal administration currently being investigated.
"If you (Radzi) are patient, there may be good news for the rakyat in the future," he added.
Anwar said that, historically, there was no issue with being prime minister and finance minister at the same time.
The real issue was using positions and power to steal the people’s money, he said.
“I am determined to use all efforts to avoid and prevent betrayal in the form of corruption,” he said. - Mkini
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