Bringing Back Gst Shows Putrajaya Is Desperate Says Sabah Activist

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Activist says GST collected from Sabah and Sarawak should be used to develop the two states instead of being channelled to the peninsula. (Bernama pic)KUCHING: A vocal activist in Sabah has criticised Putrajaya for considering the reintroduction of the goods and services tax (GST), saying it showed the federal government is financially desperate
Speaking to FMT, Zainnal Ajamain said the decision will only burden the people, particularly business owners, who had to reconcile their daily accounts
“As for Sabah, we are bracing for more ‘squeezing’ of our economy to ‘feed’ Malaya,” he said, adding that the federal government had siphoned out oil and gas, and tax revenue derived from the state
Zainnal Ajamain.But, Zainnal said Sabah received less money for development compared with other states in Malaya
“The GST is just an additional tax on top of the cabotage policy imposed on us,” he added
Earlier today, Dr Mahathir Mohamad said the federal government had no issues in bringing back the GST, abolished by the Pakatan Harapan-led government last year
A think tank, the Malaysian Institute of Economic Research, had suggested that the consumption tax be reintroduced at a lower rate to help boost government coffers
The Barisan Nasional government had imposed a 6% GST on many items. Before the 14th general election last year, Pakatan Harapan had claimed GST had led to prices going up, causing a burden to the people
PH had promised to abolish GST once it was elected to form the government. After its victory, PH replaced it with the sales and services tax (SST)
‘GST is fair form of taxation’Philip Wong, director of the Sarawak Institute for Public Affairs, in supporting the idea, described it as a fair form of taxation
He said GST was a very stable source of income but the funds collected were channelled more to the peninsula, resulting in a lot of suffering for people in both the Borneon states
“I agree that it should start from a lower level, like 3% to 4%. However, the tax collected must be recycled back to the state it was collected from
“For example, if RM1 billion in GST tax is collected from Sarawak, then the same amount should be used to develop the state
“There should be no drainage of funds from the state so as not to jeopardise economic development, he told FMT. - FMT

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