GEORGE TOWN, Oct 25 – DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng hold a press conference on his office, Komtar here on Friday said that the opposition does not support the goods and services tax (GST) and still maintains that it must be abolished. Although, he said Pakatan Harapan was aimed to “zerorise” GST, as stated in its alternative budget.
“They have already put GST in the system. However, doing away the GST would be cost a lot of money on the nationwide. So we want to zerorise on the GST which is to effectively abolishes the GST across the board,” he told a press conference in Komtar on Friday.
Therefore, Datuk Seri Najib Razak who is also the Finance Minister said on Friday when he tabling Budget 2016 in Parliament about the opposition now was also supported GST and had included it in its alternative budget. But the opposition leader and PKR president Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail later also said that the prime minister had not read their alternative budget properly.
“In the same time, Najib didn’t read it properly. We know that all the GST instruments are already in place, so if we stop it suddenly, it could be seen as irresponsible. So we made the GST zero-rated,” said PKR president Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail.
“There was no question about Pakatan Harapan’s objection against GST because its biggest concern was the impact of the consumption tax on consumers, namely the low-income group. To save the economy, GST must be abolished,” said Lim who is also Penang chief minister.
RM39 billion was collected from GST and without it, the country’s revenue would had been reduced by RM21 billion. But the tax is not collected from toll concessionaires. The money came from 30 million Malaysians. Lim lastly added that as long as the GST did not abolish, government won’t be able to ensure they have enough money to cover expenses.
