By ZAZALI MUSA
zaza@thestar.com.my
JOHOR BARU: The Government will hold series of roundtable discussions beginning middle of this year to gather more feedback and suggestions from relevant parties on the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST).
Deputy Finance Minister Datuk Donald Lim Siang Chai said among those involve in the discussions were the business community, chambers of commerce, non-governmental organisations, economists, tax experts and manufacturers.
“The discussions would give the Government a clearer picture and a better understanding whether Malaysians are really ready for the GST,” he told a press conference at the two-day GST 2012 Conference jointly organised by Johor Corp and the Malaysian Tax Accountant Association here on yesterday.
Lim said the Government felt that more dialogues and road shows on the GST should be organised nationwide to educate and create an awareness among Malaysians on the GST.
Asked whether the GST would be implemented after the general election, he declined to comment but said Malaysia had no choice but to introduce the tax scheme sooner or later.
“We need to get the consensus from the relevant parties and we are looking at achieving between 60% and 70% approval rate from them before implementing the scheme,” said Lim.
The scheme would be good for Malaysia as it would provide an alternative for the Government to increase its coffers apart from the existing income tax.
The country lost billions of ringgit yearly in tax collections as 25 million tourists who visited Malaysia yearly and four million foreign workers in the country enjoyed subsidised goods and services that were meant for the locals.
Presently 146 out of 195 countries in the world have already implemented the GST or the Value Added Tax and in Asean only Malaysia, Brunei and Myanmar have yet to introduce the scheme.
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