The wealthy lobbied for GST’s abolition, says Isham
Umno Supreme Council member Isham Jalil says it will take ‘political courage’ to reintroduce the goods and services tax. (Bernama pic)
GEORGE TOWN: Umno Supreme Council member Isham Jalil has claimed that it was the wealthy who pushed for the abolition of the goods and services tax (GST) through intense political lobbying after the last general election (GE14).
“There were lobbying efforts made by wealthy tycoons to certain political parties since they did not want to pay more taxes,” he said at a webinar co-organised by the Bait Al-Amanah think tank and Z Consultation Group.
Isham brushed off critics of the GST implementation in 2014 who claimed the tax was regressive.
He said GST was, in fact, progressive as it prevented the wealthy from avoiding taxes.
Isham Jalil.
“When you have a sales and services tax (SST), the wealthy can avoid paying taxes,” he said.
Isham said having GST in place would help instil confidence among foreign investors, who would feel assured that Malaysia would not resort to implementing other forms of taxes.
He said that when the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government abolished GST in 2019, foreign investors were worried about how the government would settle the RM1 trillion debt that had accumulated at the time.
“They were worried that the government might introduce other forms of taxes if the PH government did not have any plan to introduce a consumption tax,” he said.
The investors’ fear affected Malaysia, he said, making Indonesia and Vietnam more attractive to invest.
Isham also said it would take political courage to reintroduce GST
“Even Dr Mahathir Mohamad considered reintroducing GST (in 2019), but I doubt he was serious about it due to political lobbying (from the wealthy) at the time,” he said.
‘Have an agreement to avoid politicising GST’
Bait Al-Amanah’s research director Benedict Weerasena called for a confidence and supply agreement (CSA) between the next government and the opposition to avoid politicising GST, should it be reintroduced after GE15.
“GST is good for national interests. So, if the opposition then plays with the public’s sentiments to oppose GST again, we will go back to square one.
“Strategy-wise, a CSA can be used as a mechanism for GST to be incorporated. We can fine-tune it during debates in Parliament,” he said.
GEORGE TOWN: Umno Supreme Council member Isham Jalil has claimed that it was the wealthy who pushed for the abolition of the goods and services tax (GST) through intense political lobbying after the last general election (GE14).
“There were lobbying efforts made by wealthy tycoons to certain political parties since they did not want to pay more taxes,” he said at a webinar co-organised by the Bait Al-Amanah think tank and Z Consultation Group.
Isham brushed off critics of the GST implementation in 2014 who claimed the tax was regressive.
He said GST was, in fact, progressive as it prevented the wealthy from avoiding taxes.
Isham Jalil.“When you have a sales and services tax (SST), the wealthy can avoid paying taxes,” he said.
Isham said having GST in place would help instil confidence among foreign investors, who would feel assured that Malaysia would not resort to implementing other forms of taxes.
He said that when the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government abolished GST in 2019, foreign investors were worried about how the government would settle the RM1 trillion debt that had accumulated at the time.
“They were worried that the government might introduce other forms of taxes if the PH government did not have any plan to introduce a consumption tax,” he said.
The investors’ fear affected Malaysia, he said, making Indonesia and Vietnam more attractive to invest.
Isham also said it would take political courage to reintroduce GST
“Even Dr Mahathir Mohamad considered reintroducing GST (in 2019), but I doubt he was serious about it due to political lobbying (from the wealthy) at the time,” he said.
‘Have an agreement to avoid politicising GST’
Bait Al-Amanah’s research director Benedict Weerasena called for a confidence and supply agreement (CSA) between the next government and the opposition to avoid politicising GST, should it be reintroduced after GE15.
“GST is good for national interests. So, if the opposition then plays with the public’s sentiments to oppose GST again, we will go back to square one.
“Strategy-wise, a CSA can be used as a mechanism for GST to be incorporated. We can fine-tune it during debates in Parliament,” he said.
IF GST is ever reintroduced in Malaysia, it must be done in a rule-based, transparent manner , both in the collection of output GST and refund of Input GST.
ReplyDeleteGST Najib managed Iput GST Refunds in an improper and dishonest manner, denying mostly small businesses their righful refunds, and diverting the funds into General Government expenditure.
Until today, 4 years after the GST was halted, the Malaysia government has still not yet settled all the Input Gst Refunds due.