According
to the Star (4 October) news report, the Penang Chinese Chamber of Commerce,
the Malaysian Institute of Economic Research and others want a re-introduction
of the GST. Why? They believe GST is “fair” to everyone! It is a tried and
tested system, all in the supply chain are impacted. Foreign workers will now
pay taxes. So what does the Finance Minister say? We must get a clear mandate
from the people! But the people rejected GST in 2018. So why bring back a
regressive tax that benefits the rich more than the poor (even if some items
are zero-rated).
GST
will work well in a developed country where disparity of income is not wide and
nation shares a single culture and common education system. So says Choong Kwai
Fatt. The SST refined or tweaked will meet local demand.
“The
GST should never be brought back as it adds to the burden of the B40 group."
“A
re-introduction of the GST would also be disastrous as it would cause confusion
for the business community and create uncertainties in the business regime
which would further affect the investment climate, ” he told StarBiz.
Even
if GST is re-introduced at 3%, he said the B40 would still be severely
impacted. He added that the SST model has its own inherent limitations as it
has excluded trading from the tax net. There is also no complete integration
between the sales tax and services tax and there are also tax leakages from
manufacturing to trading, as sales tax is only imposed on manufacturing, he
said.
He
suggested that the extension of trading business to be subjected to sales tax
of 4%, which would close the gap of inefficiency and accelerated pricing.
“Business
to business should be allowed tax exemption on sales tax and service tax. This
would mean that only single stage tax is imposed when a sale is made to the
ultimate consumer, which is the public.
“The
government should also extend and widen the group of service providers for
service tax to be imposed. To avoid doubt, all services should be subject to
service tax, except those exempted, ” he said.
Malaysia
should also avoid adopting a flat SST rate and it would be appropriate to
impose 10% sales tax for manufacturing, 0% for trading of essential goods,
service tax of 6% and exempt service tax for essential services, he added. While
the SST would lower the government’s revenue which calls for careful public
spending on essential items, Choong said the economy is not significantly
impacted by the tax factor. “The economy depends on confidence in the
government on the various fiscal measures introduced. This includes stability
in the SST and affirmation on the SST implementation.
The SST is far superior to the GST as the former
is single-tier, imposed only once at the gross income level, which eliminates
the need for an input tax or a refund. And the disadvantages of GST include the higher tax burden on SMEs, compliance difficulties and attendant increase in costs resulting in inflation. We should stick with the SST and tweak it to suit out needs.
Reference:
1.
‘SST far superior to GST’, 4 Oct 2019, The Star
2.
Go back to the people, says Guan Eng on calls to revert to GST, 4 Oct 2019,
Free Malaysia Today
3.
GST ‘tried and tested’, say Penang
businessmen, 4 Oct 2019, Free Malaysia Today
4. Shahbazkhan Mokashi, Advantages and
Disadvantages of GST in Malaysia www.businesssetup.com
5. Sathish AR, Disadvantages of GST: The
Shortfalls You Need To Know https://quickbooks.intuit.com
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