Vital people understand GST before implementation — Maslan

Posted on July 3, 2013, Wednesday

KUCHING: It is important to prepare people, businesses, companies and industries to be Goods and Services Tax-ready before its full implementation.

Deputy Minister of Finance Datuk Ahmad Maslan said the introduction of GST or value added tax would not burden Malaysians.

“What we need is to enhance the awareness programme in order to educate the people about the mechanism and concept of GST so that they will understand the advantages.

“GST is a system that is effective and fair which will replace the sales and services tax (SST),” he told a press conference before the presentation of Excellent Services Awards to 108 officers of the state Customs Department here yesterday.

“Understandably, GST will not burden the people as it will not be applied on basic daily necessities such as rice, sugar or things in the food and vegetables categories,” he said.

In fact, the people only need to understand that they were already paying taxes every day and GST would not be an added tax but one that would replace SST, he said.

Furthermore, he said the taxes collected would be put back to the system to benefit the people.

“There is nothing to fear about GST for 160 countries around the world have already implemented the system,” he said, adding that its implementation was not likely to happen this year as several studies in the final stages were still ongoing to ensure smooth implementation.

“Preparations are being finalised as it is a huge task which will involve the Customs Department especially in managing the transactions,” he said.

He said the government’s focus now was to carry out awareness programme to expose, inform and educate the general public about the system. As for the rate of GST to be imposed, Maslan said they would have to wait for the next budget to announce it.

Noting the negative response from the opposition about the full (GST) implementation, Maslan said it was an unwise thought as the country would be moving backward without it.

“With thorough studies and research being done by consultants, economists and analysts, this is the best system to boost the economy and the people’s welfare,” he said.

“Also, GST can help minimise the gap of ‘shadow economy’, a black hole in the market where unreported taxes are lost,” he said.

Read more: http://www.theborneopost.com/2013/07/03/vital-people-understand-gst-before-implementation-maslan/#ixzz2XxGvCUcH