Rafizi ticked off over GST calculation

Several Barisan Nasional (BN) members of parliament on Wednesday hit out at Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) vice-president Rafizi Ramli over his remarks that the government's collection of the Goods and Service Tax (GST) will be higher than the increase in the 1Malaysia's People Aid (BR1M) next year.

They said Rafizi was simply exploiting facts to instigate the people.

Datuk Nawawi Ahmad (BN-Langkawi) regarded Rafizi's "mathematics" as illogical by "ordinary people".

"Ordinary people to me are those with income of RM4,000 and below. If the government's GST collection is RM17 a day, then the person will have to spend RM283 on goods with GST and in a month, the expenditure is RM8,500 only for purchase of goods with GST, and that does not include goods with no GST," he said when debating the Supply Bill 2016 in Parliament, Wednesday.

Rafizi had claimed that the government would collect about RM19 a day from each household next year and the amount was higher compared with the increase in BR1M payment, which was only 14 sen a day.

He claimed that the people would pay additional tax of RM13 billion next year.

Meanwhile, Datuk Seri Noh Omar (BN-Tanjong Karang) suggested the government to a cluster or group of people to be exempted from GST, like students, recipients of E-Kasih, senior citizens and people with disabilities (OKU).