BANGI, Oct 31 – Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) Vice-Chancellor, Datuk Dr Noor Azlan Ghazali said that the Goods and Services Tax (GST) is a requirement for Malaysia which is now just a step away from the developed nation status. He said there were more than 160 nations practise GST while the GST must be understood when the country moves from being one of low-income to middle-incomed and then to high-incomed nation.
“Based on statistics from the World Bank, Malaysia was a nation with a upper middle-income status and very close to becoming a high-income nation. On that ground, the GST is appropriate with the country’s current needs and economic status. The GST is not a new tax, it is a new form of tax collection,” he said.
In the meantime, Noor Azlan was also speaking in a post-2016 Budget of the press conference which was held when asked to comment on a call made by certain parties to abolish the GST. He added that the GST was implemented on April 1 this year at the rate of six per cent.
“On the allocations to public universities which were reduced in the 2016 Budget, it did not affect UKM in its efforts to achieve excellence within the country and internationally. We have our own initiatives to achieve excellence and get revenue,” said Noor Azlan.
Besides that, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak while tabling the 2016 Budget on Oct 23 also announced that RM41.3 billion was allocated to the education sector for next year, much lower compared to the RM56 billion provided in the 2015 Budget.
