No intention of bringing back GST, says govt

The government says it has no intention of bringing back the goods and services tax (GST) at this point as it is focusing on public health, maintaining economic resilience and ensuring economic sustainability.

Speaking in the Dewan Rakyat today, Deputy Finance Minister Mohd Shahar Abdullah said the matter would be studied.

“We can see in the budget for 2021 that we are focused on other measures to reduce leakage,” he added.

He was responding to Mohamad Sabu (Amanah-Kota Raja) who asked the government to state whether the GST would be reimposed next year given the present instability.

The 6% GST was introduced in April 2015 under the Najib Razak administration. It became a point of contention among the public which helped the opposition topple the Barisan Nasional government in the 2018 general election.

After taking over Putrajaya, Pakatan Harapan (PH) said it would abolish the GST and replace it with the sales and services tax (SST).

This was part of a wave of economic reforms promised by PH, led by Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

The SST has been in effect since September 2018.