The Federation of Malaysian Consumers Associations (FOMCA) has stated that it agrees with the government’s plan to reintroduce the Goods and Services Tax (GST), in a bid to raise the country’s revenue. 

The president of FOMCA, Datuk Dr Marimuthu Nadason said that if the GST is reimplemented, it will directly contribute to an increase in the national income. He added that the taxation model was effective when it was introduced back in 2015. 

“But then we scrapped that [GST] off and introduced sales and services tax (SST), which had somehow created loopholes for some people to avoid paying their tax reimbursement. So by introducing GST again, it would directly help the government, especially in terms of tax collection,” Datuk Dr Marimuthu further said.

The FOMCA president also noted that most economically advanced nations utilised taxation models that are similar to the GST – a move that has helped to improve their countries and people. “The concept here is that if you buy more, you pay more, hence people don’t have to worry if they’re not in the threshold,” he remarked.

Earlier this week, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob had reiterated that the government is keen to reintroduce the GST, echoing the proposal from former prime minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin. According to him, the government will aim for a reasonable GST rate that will benefit all parties if it is reimplemented. 

(Source: New Straits Times)

• TAGS:
• Datuk Dr Marimuthu Nadason
• Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob
• Federation of Malaysian Consumers Associations
• FOMCA
• Goods And Services Tax
• GST
• Sales and Services Tax
• SST
• Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin