Jan Leow's Blog Page

Malaysian GST has come

Malaysia GST has come! The build up to this great government custom taxation is now implemented and there is no way the man in the street will now escape from paying more tax. The flat GST tax rate of 6% will affect all population in Malaysia, but more so to the lower and middle income earners.

No doubt 90% of the world countries has adopted GST (government sales tax) or VAT (value added tax) in order to improved their confers. The way Malaysia has gone about it was more like a force throat approach. From discussion with friends abroad, I get to know that the initial amount collected was something like 2-3% and then gradually increased. So the effect of GST was not too sudden and the people could get used to the consumption tax. But it was said by the men in the street, Malaysia government don’t have enough money, thus the 6% jump, and using the neighbouring countries as an excuse, “we are still lower”, but only by 1%. Terrible way of explaining to the public acceptance.