KUALA LUMPUR – The previous government's decision to abolish the goods and services tax (GST) had, to some extent, affected the country's revenue, said Deputy Finance Minister I Datuk Abd Rahim Bakri.
He said this was because the country faced a revenue shortfall when the GST was abolished and replaced with the sales and service tax (SST).
"The GST was introduced in 2015 before the then government decided to abolish the tax system in 2018.
"Judging from the data, GST collection was RM44 billion a year and the total during its implementation was RM133.1 billion while SST collection was just RM21 billion annually,” he said when winding up the debate on the Sales Tax (Amendment) Bill 2020 in Dewan Negara here today.
He said the GST collection was higher as the taxation system was more comprehensive and charged all taxable goods and services at all stages, compared with the SST, which was deemed a single-stage tax and imposed only on manufacturers.
"About 597,000 people were registered under the GST while only 46,519 were registered under the SST... and some 12,000 types of products were taxable under the GST but only 6,000 items under the SST,” he said.
However, Rahim also admitted that there were weaknesses in the implementation of the GST, which indirectly affected the people.
He said the government would consider the views and acceptance of all parties, including the people, on the possible reintroduction of the GST. – Bernama, December 29, 2020
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