By Syauqi Jamil
KUALA LUMPUR: Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng today admitted that the Goods and Services Tax (GST) which was implemented by the previous Barisan Nasional (BN) government is a more transparent taxation system.
However, the Bagan MP explained that the proposed revival of SST by the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government will ultimately lead to lesser burden on consumers end.
“On transparency, we can’t deny it. When asked which is more transparent, definitely GST is more transparent… It can collect more tax widely and leaves an impact to the people.
“SST on the other hand, though not as transparent, as efficient as GST, but the impact on people, especially on consumers, the people who we are focusing on, they are the ones who are affected less,” he said in Parliament today.
He was responding to BN Pontian lawmaker Ahmad Maslan’s supplementary question who had asked for the former to comment on SST’s transparency in compared to GST, in which he claimed to be more transparent.
Lim who is also the DAP Secretary General in his reply, also took a swipe at Ahmad who was previously criticised heavily during his time as the Deputy Finance Minister, where he was then seen as the main spokesperson for GST.
“Of course Pontian would understand more on the effects of GST. But I would be very careful when when I get advises from Pontian,” he said followed by an uproar among lawmakers.
The SST Act is expected to be tabled in the August House next month and is scheduled to be implemented September 1 onwards. Under SST, the sales tax would be charged at 10% while service tax would be charged at 6%.
