GST: 295 products should be cheaper

The government yesterday listed 295 items that should be cheaper following the implementation of Goods and Services Tax (GST).

The list comprises 22 products which was earlier subjected to the sales and service tax (SST) of five percent but now have been exempted from the GST, and 273 products which were previously imposed with the SST of 10 percent but now subjected to the GST of six percent.

Deputy Finance Minister Datuk Ahmad Maslan said the rakyat should have felt the impact from the reduction in product prices following the implementation of the GST.

"We are faced with a few traders who are still manipulating prices, but this list (of items) are facts.

"I have given the directive for traders to reduce prices. If they don't follow the order to reduce prices as directed by the Finance Ministry and Royal Malaysian Customs Department (Customs), this means that they have violated the stipulated acts, among them, the Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Ministry's act," he told reporters after launching the 'Biasiswa Srikandi Malaysia' programme here, Tuesday.

The list of items was given by the Customs, he said.

Ahmad explained that traders must reduce the prices of 22 food products in the list encompassing salted fish, dried fish and imported fruits, as they have changed status from five percent SST to goods that are exempted from the GST.

As for the 273 products that were previously subjected to 10 percent SST, their tax should be reduced from 10 percent to six percent.

Besides cars, the other products in the list include household items and basic necessities such as furniture, clothing, sanitary pads, pampers, stationery, cordial drinks, car batteries and tyres.

"The discipline that should be followed is 'minus five (SST) becomes 0 (GST-exempted), minus 10 (SST) becomes six (GST)', before attaching the new prices," he said, while urging the other traders to follow Mydin, Jakel and KFC in implementing the GST.

"Those that have brand names normally follow the SOP (standard operating procedure), what I'm worried are the shops in the villages," he said.

Ahmad said the rakyat is now angry at the government because of the high prices of goods and they also had to pay taxes.

"The main issue with GST is product prices. If prices could be stabilised, the GST would no longer be an issue.

"The prices of majority of products should be reduced, so GST will bring benefits to the rakyat. The prices of cars have been reduced, why are the prices of other products have not declined?" he said.

For the services sector such as motorcycle workshops which imposed GST, Ahmad noted that only companies with annual sales value of more than RM500,000 must register for GST.

"The small companies need not register. If consumers are in doubt, the status of shops can be checked at the Customs portal," he said.

He said checks could be made at the portal: http://gst.customs.gov.my which provided links to four other portals to get information related to the GST, namely http://www.treasury.gov.my, http://www.kpdnkk.gov.my, http://gstpedia.my, and http://gstmalaysiainfo.com.

On the price of prepaid reload coupon, Ahmad said the issue was still under review at the related ministry and the telecommunication companies also give air time bonus accordingly to consumers.