Economy minister Rafizi Ramli says the federal government isn’t ruling out the reintroduction of the products and services tax (GST). Although the country’s priority was to roll out the capital gains tax next yr, he said that other types of taxes, including GST, shall be considered in the hassle to widen the nation’s revenue base, The Star reports.
“We shall be open and undergo whatever way we will to realize fiscal sustainability through a wider revenue base – whether goes to be capital gains tax, GST or some other types of direct and indirect taxes,” he told reporters following the tabling of the twelfth Malaysia Plan (12MP) mid-term review in parliament today.
“Considered one of the strategies to widen our revenue base is to develop and roll out capital gains tax in 2024, and the federal government will stick with that strategy,” he said. As for other potential avenues of revenue collection, these remain open. “We are going to settle on a case-to-case and year-to-year basis,” he said in response to a matter about whether the federal government had plans to revive GST.
Rafizi added that any announcement as regards to any introduction of a brand new tax or revenue stream could be made by the finance ministry from one budget announcement to a different.
Last week, MCA president Datuk Seri Wee Ka Siong called on the federal government to bring GST back, as many businesses were reportedly dodging taxes under the current sales and repair tax (SST), leading to reduced revenue for the federal government.
Wee said that the GST might be revived with several improvements, resembling the introduction of an exemption list, zero-rated supply and giving financial aid to the poor with increased government revenue. He also suggested that the reintroduction be made at a lower rate and increased over a time period.
The GST replaced the sales and repair tax (SST) in April 2015, but was then scrapped in favour of bringing back SST in September 2018 when the Pakatan Harapan government took over the reins.
In March this yr, prime minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim had reiterated that Malaysia wouldn’t reinstate the GST or some other broad-based consumption tax within the near future. He said the country was simply not ready for the reintroduction of GST, with the rakyat‘s income and threshold first needing to be increased and at an affordable level before the tax might be reinstated.
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This Article First Appeared At paultan.org
