The Malaysian government through its Deputy Finance Minister, Datuk Dr Awang Adek Hussin, gave assurance that the GST rates will not be increase above 4%.
He said 126 programmes involving 180,000 participants have been organised nationwide to explain GST implementation. (I am waiting to attend one, but there's not much publicity on these workshops / seminars)
Also of interest are the following comments :
1. the 4% rate will have a neutral impact on inflation, and overall government revenue.
2. the main objective of GST implementation is to restructure the country's taxation system, to make it comprehensive, efficient, transparent, and business-friendly, and to address the weaknesess in the present taxation system.
3. GST will not lead to higher business costs, but instead will make the prices of goods and services more competitive in the domestic and international markets. The GST paid by traders for business inputs like raw materials, telephone bills and office equipment can be claimed as a credit from the government.
4. The country's per capita income level is not a yardstick to implement GST. There are some countries with much lower per capita income which have already implemented GST. Countries such as Venezuela, Sri Lanka, South Africa and Sudan are GST-taxable countries.
5. The county's revenue collection can be increased through efficient GST collection and higher compliance level.
Extracted from Bernama report dated June 9, 2010
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