GST for Sabah???

My written comments at the GST seminars organised by CAPS/FOMCA
GST FOMCA
Sabah belum sedia kerana kos implementasinya adalah banyak kerana pentadbirannya bagi compliance.

The BIG gap of urban and rural for costs of goods and sales of goods within Sabah not to consider nationwide as there is no 1price for the nation.
If service tax of 1975 can be postponed till 1993, GST should be zero rate/ exempted till 2019 to enable underdeveloped Sabah and Sarawak to catch up with Malaya.
Sabah should not pay for the subsidy of oil/ petrol for the decades for the nation as Sabah is an oil producing state hence the subsidy should be off set by Sabah oil export when the global prices of oil or crude oil escalate, hence the subsidy is irrelevant for Sabah.
I call for a Royal Commission of Inquiry on the subsidies especially for oil/petrol before proper implementation of subsidy rationalization. Sabah’s pump price at the petrol station should be RM1 per liter like Brunei.
Kaum Cina dan persefahaman English mungkin kurang faham kerana dak ada ceramah dalam bahasa masing-masing.
Mobilisation fund to implement GST can be substantial especially for those below RM1m turnover and such costs could be passed over to the consumers at large hence the increases of prices across the board.
Kebanyakan peniaga di Sabah belum sedia laksanakan GST seperti dijadualkan. Negeri Sabah di tunda ke 2019 dengan zero rate saja.
To implement GST in Sabah without “shock” to the public, it is important to have in 1Malaysia, 1price as there are too many disparities with Peninsula Malaysia. All the disparities must be dealt with promptly to make GST @ 6% more meaningful. Any thing predictable and unpredictable can happen in Sabah. The selling price of petrol in Sabah should be RM1 per liter for an oil producing state like Brunei as the subsidy is not applicable as far as Sabah is concerned.

the rich people are mostly in BN/UMNO.

the rich people are mostly in BN/UMNO.


Dewan Rakyat: GST Should Be Imposed At Different Rates According To Category, Says BN MP
KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 16 (Bernama) -- A member of Parliament today proposed to the government to impose the goods and services tax (GST) at different rates according to category.

Tan Sri Shahrir Abdul Samad (BN-Johor Baharu) said the government should also make the GST more flexible and consider restructuring it after a year of implementation.

"For example, the GST rate for luxury items should not be fixed at six per cent. Maybe it can be fixed at a higher rate," he said when debating the Supply Bill 2015 at the Dewan Rakyat sitting here today.

The GST of six per cent is set to be implemented from April 2015.

Shahrir also proposed for the government to implement luxury tax on luxury properties and assets as part of the moves to increase government revenue as being practised in Netherlands and Norway.

"Not only the people there have to pay the income tax, they must also declare their assets and that the luxury tax will be imposed based on their luxury assets or wealth," he said.

Meanwhile, Dr Noor Azmi Ghazali (BN-Bagan Serai) when debating the same bill proposed for the government to find a new mechanism to ensure that each subsidy would only benefit those who needed it most.

He said this was because, at present, the subsidies on petrol and diesel, for example, were also enjoyed by the rich people, as well as foreigners.

"This is not fair because the subsidies should benefit the people, the low-income group, who needed it the most," he said.

As such, he said the government should scrutinise the eligibility of subsidy recipients to ensure that only those who deserved it would receive it, and to prove the government's transparency in giving the subsidy.

"There should be certain criteria that must be met before the recipients can receive the subsidy, such as a proof in the form of a wedding certificate," he said.

The sitting continues on Oct 27.

-- BERNAMA

GST exempt, zero-rated and relief lists gazetted

http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/277515

GST exempt, zero-rated and relief lists gazetted

 71  4 0

KINIBIZ The list of goods and services to be exempt under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) was gazetted yesterday by order of the Second Finance Minister Ahmad Husni Mohamad Hanadzlah.

Also gazetted were the zero-rated list, which covered among others a wide range of meat, vegetables, fruit and printed materials. The third order gazetted was the exempt list which details groups or individuals who are exempt from paying GST on specific items.

The goods exempt list included land that was to be used for agricultural or residential purposes, such as residential property.

The list also included any investment in gold, silver or platinum - so long as the metals’ contain investment characteristics. Such as being refined by a refiner listed on the ‘good delivery’ list of the London Bullion Market Association for gold and silver. And from refiners listed on the ‘good delivery’ list of the London Platinum and Palladium Market for platinum.

Financial services including savings and current accounts, trading in bonds and securities and life insurance or life reinsurance were listed under the exempt services list. Education services from primary through to tertiary are also exempted. As is private child care and preschool offered by any provider registered the Education Ministry.

Healthcare services provided by any registered private operator are also exempt from GST. These include among others, medical, dental, allied health and midwifery.

if exempted, petrol outlets in trouble.

RON95, diesel and LPG exempted from GST

 

http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/277225

Overall increases would prevail after GST

HUSNI, WHERE DID YOU GET THIS FIGURE?

• 
  
• 
  
• 
  

8 October 2014

Dear YB Datuk Seri Husni,
Last month, a senior staff from the Ministry of Finance came out with the statement that the GST would only add RM 46.94 to the expenses of a family which has an expenditure of RM2000 per month and not RM120 as one might expect (6% x RM2000). This was quoted in page 6 of Starbiz 16/9/2014. According to Datuk Siti Halimah Ismail, the undersecretary for the Tax Division of the Ministry of Finance, the implementation of the GST would only increase the expenditure of this family by 2.35%. Frankly, I find this quite intriguing. 
Would it be possible for the Ministry to share the calculation underlying this statement by putting it up in your web-site so that the public can judge whether or not it is true.
I believe that to make a forecast such as this, one would need to make a list of goods and services that a family with a monthly expenditure of RM2000 will be purchasing in a month. Then one would have to divide these goods and services into 6 categories as shown in the table below. Then one would have to calculate the increase in the costs of each of these categories.

	Goods and services that have sales tax now	Goods and services that have no sales tax currently
Zero rated goods
GST Exempt Goods
Goods and services that will be charged 6% GST

What were the assumptions made by the Ministry in arriving the 2.35% figure?

1. Did you assume that all goods that were previously charged sales tax of 10% would be 4% cheaper once GST is implemented? In other words you are expecting that all the outlets all over Malaysia will dutifully lower prices for these items because the Sales Tax is abolished. Our experience is that prices are “sticky” downwards – retailers are usually reluctant to lower prices.

2. Is the Ministry assuming that all goods that are zero rated will have no change in their prices at all? Is this a valid assumption? Let’s take the case of vegetables, which is zero rated. But the farmer’s production costs will go up – fertilisers, pesticides, diesel for machinery and transport, etc will attract GST at 6%. For zero rated items, the producer can claim back input tax from Customs. But how many of our vegetable farmers do you think, Datuk Seri Minister, would be registered with Customs? For you can only claim back “input tax” if you are registered with Customs. If the vegetable farmer cannot claim back the increase in his costs for the GST paid on his inputs, would he not pass it on to his customers in the form of a price increase?

3. Did you calculate the price increase of all goods exempted from GST to the second decimal place? As you know, GST exempt goods will not be charged GST at the point of sale to the customer. But unlike the “zero rated” items, the retailer will not be allowed to claim back the GST he paid when buying these items from the supplier, so the retailer will pass the GST that he paid to the customer in the form of a higher price. Do you really believe that the retail sellers will so scrupulous to calculate the exact amount of GST he actually paid? Won’t there be cases where prices are hiked up more than 6% using GST paid (when purchasing from the wholesaler) as an excuse? Does the Customs have the capacity to monitor the situation across the country? May I refer you to page 14, The Star. An article entitled “Prices of sundry goods shoot up overnight after fuel hike” begins thus – Retails outlets in Sabah have started increasing the prices of sundry goods by 70 sen to RM1.40, just hours after the latest fuel price hike.   

This is the normal behavior of businessmen. They will use any opportunity to hike up prices if they feel they can get away with it. Is your Ministry in a position to monitor and prevent all of this. If not, then shouldn’t you review the assumptions made in your calculation of the impact of the GST on the budget of lower income families?

I can appreciate the argument that the GST will lead to more comprehensive reporting of actual earnings in the private sector, and that tax revenues will go up. But I think it is dishonest to pretend to the Malaysian Public that the impact on them will be negligible. If we want to build a democratic culture in Malaysia, it is important that we speak the truth and allow open discussion on important policy decisions based on facts.
I am writing to you as Finance Minister I must be busy with various responsibilities. I hope you, as Finance Minister II will instruct your staff to make their calculations public so that everyone can see how you arrived at 2.35% figure.
Thank you.
Dr Jeyakumar
PSM Central Committee Member & Member of Parliament for Sg.Siput
Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM)
8/10/2014
019-5616807