Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob has said that the government is keen to reintroduce the Goods and Services Tax (GST) in a bid to help boost its existing revenue.

According to Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri, the government is faced with limited options in the matter, despite being aware of the unpopularity of the GST among the people. He highlighted that the government had suffered a RM20 billion loss in annual revenue since the abolishment of the taxation model in 2018.

The prime minister also stated that if implemented, the government will aim for a reasonable GST rate that is neither too high that it burdens the people, nor too low that it “defeats the purpose of expanding tax revenue”. 

This suggestion to reintroduce the GST is not actually a new development; back in 2020, former prime minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin had already highlighted that the government may consider reimplementing it. Following that, the Finance Ministry shared that the government is still evaluating the suitability of reimplementing the tax module in March 2022. The ministry stressed that the assessment of this matter must include various aspects, including the downsides of the current Sales and Services Tax (SST) in comparison to those of the GST.

To note, Malaysia utilised the SST from the 1970s to 2014, after which it was replaced with the GST. The government then reverted back to the SST in September 2018 following public discontent as the GST was believed to have contributed to the rise in living costs back then.

(Source: The Edge Markets)

• TAGS:
• Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob
• Finance Ministry
• Goods And Services Tax
• GST
• Prime Minister
• Sales and Services Tax
• SST
• Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin