No discussion on reintroducing GST - Tengku Zafrul

KUALA SELANGOR: There has been no discussion on reintroducing the Goods and Services Tax (GST) in the Cabinet meeting, said Finance Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz.

He said the implementation of GST requires discussion at the Cabinet level and tabled in Parliament first.

"Any new tax must be approved by the Cabinet and then tabled in Parliament, and before the dissolution of the Parliament, there was no Cabinet approval regarding GST," he told reporters after officiating the Kuala Selangor Kemas Family Day here today.

Tengku Zafrul said this in response to claims by Pakatan Harapan leaders that GST will be reintroduced after the 15th General Election.

Elaborating, he said at least 160 countries in the world have implemented GST and admitted that the tax system is more efficient and able to reduce leakage.

"Our current tax to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) ratio is around 11 per cent, which is relatively low. This shows that what we have now is not efficient.

"(However,) this does not mean that we will introduce a new tax in the near future. What is important is that the tax imposed does not burden the people and can be used to develop the country," he said.

The GST of six per cent was introduced on April 1, 2015, before it was abolished and replaced with the Sales and Services Tax starting Sept 1, 2018.

The current sales tax rates are five and 10 per cent, while the service tax rate is six per cent.

-- BERNAMA