Pakatan takes GST public

Posted on 3 November 2013 - 09:26pm

Last updated on 4 November 2013 - 09:16am

GEORGE TOWN (Nov 3, 2013): Pakatan Rakyat took their public awareness campaign on the Goods and Services Tax (GST) to the ground soapbox-style at the Bayan Baru Food Court and Market here this morning.

As locals got busy with their marketing or dived into their breakfast, Bukit Bendera MP Zairil Khir Johari, Bayan Baru MP Sim Tze Tzin and Nibong Tebal MP Datuk Mansor Othman took turns at the microphone to explain the everyday implications of the GST in English, Malay and Mandarin.

"Imagine, you have to pay GST for items like coffee, tea and even mineral water," said Zairil, who pointed out that some 5,000 items are not taxed under the Sales Tax and Service Tax, compared with only 1,000 under the GST.

Mansor said Budget 2014 is a disadvantage to providing aid as the government would set up more agencies to manage these funds.

"This would mean less development for the people, like health, education and public utilities," he said.

He also pointed out that the 1Malaysia People's Aid (BR1M) did not come about until after the Penang state government introduced the Senior Citizen Appreciation programme in 2009.

"The Penang state government gives RM100 annually to the seniors above 60 years old, and we were criticised by the Federal ministers for that," he said.

Sim said implementation of the GST is only presentable in theory, "but in reality, it is horrible", as it reduces demand for goods and services in general.

He explained: "You end up buying less. If a person is able to buy a lot of items for RM100, they would buy less with the same amount with the implementation of GST."