Sakmongkol AK47
The Malaysian Insider
May 22, 2011
MAY 22 — A long time ago, I wrote about the government’s plan to implement goods and services tax (GST). I am not going to bother looking at what I wrote. Maybe what I wrote then did not make sense at all.
But to me, the plan to implement the GST will be another nail in the coffin for the Barisan Nasional government. In almost all cases where the GST was introduced, it has raised a lot of discontent. Governments have fallen because of the GST and finance ministers have resigned.
Remember this: Governments have fallen, finance ministers have quit.
I hope, the government’s tax package is not an attempt to trick workers into thinking that they will be better off after the proposed tax cuts. I also hope it will not trick people on government benefits that they will be better off after the so-called “compensation”, despite the introduction of a GST.
Consider this. Our tax base is perhaps only 15 per cent, i.e. only about 15 percent of the population pays taxes. The balance do not pay taxes — kampong people, self-employed, ordinary folks outside the tax bracket. Now, all are caught in the tax trawler net and will pay consumption tax. Never mind, says the government, we will compensate the ordinary people. Continue reading “Will the GST be another nail in the coffin?”