KUALA LUMPUR, 24 Jan: Claims by Barisan Nasional (BN) that only companies that sell goods or services above RM500,000 a year will incur the Goods and Services Tax (GST) is only a propaganda to confuse the people.
Merchants are forced to register their businesses under the GST scheme voluntarily to avoid thinning profit margins or worse, continue to suffer losses despite receiving less than RM500,000 a year and not requiring to charge the GST.
The Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) Strategy Director, Rafizi Ramli, said that the move to register businesses under the GST scheme will allow them to claim the GST credit payments from the government which previously was imposed on suppliers.
“Although merchants have sales or service less than RM500,000 per year, they are not required to impose the GST. They are allowed to register on a voluntary basis because not registering would cause their profit margins to thin or suffer losses.
“They have only two ways to solve this problem. They can either raise prices or voluntarily register to impose the GST and they will eventually victimise the consumer,” he said during the Know GST, Reject GST forum which was held at the Petaling Jaya City Council Civic Hall yesterday.
Rafizi said that all groups will be burdened by the GST compared to currently, where the income tax only applies to those earning a high income and the Sales and Services Tax (SST) only involves certain businesses and services only.
“Even when the GST is imposed the income tax will be reduced, it will only affect about 1.5 million out of 13 million workers; only 11 percent will receive income tax reductions, while the 89 percent who are not imposed the income tax will incur the GST.
“Regardless if you are working or not, old or young, rich or poor, or disables, all are subject to the GST. No one is immune, except those earning a higher income will benefit a little because their income tax will be reduced.
