Chua : GST will lower the prices of goods

“Costs will also be lower for businesses as they will recover their input tax and exported goods will be GST-free, giving local products a higher edge in price competitiveness”

PETALING JAYA: The goods and services tax (GST) will lead to lower prices of goods when it replaces the existing sales and service tax, MCA president Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek said.


He said there were many misunderstandings surrounding plans to implement the GST, as it had been mistakenly viewed as an additional form of tax.

Instead, he said, the abolition of the sales and service tax would lead to products and services being offered at a cheaper rate.

“The GST is a consumption tax, which means that the more you spend, the more you pay.

“Likewise, if you spend less, the less tax you pay.

“I think that is equitable and fair,” he said after the opening of the “Making High Income Nation A Reality” national conference here.

Dr Chua said basic items such as essential foods would be zero-rated under the GST.

“Costs will also be lower for businesses as they will recover their input tax and exported goods will be GST-free, giving local products a higher edge in price competitiveness,” Dr Chua said.

He chided Opposition politicians for stirring misconception and public objection against the GST, which Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak had said “will be implemented at the right time in the near future”.

“Too few Malaysians understand that the GST rationalises and improves the collection of tax without placing an additional burden on the Government or the people.

“The Government should step up efforts to educate the rakyat, with a proper timetable and plan, so that they will understand and support the GST,” he said.

Earlier in his speech, Dr Chua said the Government must not be content with its achievements but continue to improve Malaysia’s competitiveness in the global arena.

Although the country leaped from 26th to 21st position in the World Economic Forum Global Competitiveness Index 2011-2012, he said the strength of its skilled workforce must be increased in order to accelerate the country to achieve a high-income economy status.

Dr Chua said growth in the skilled workforce was enabled through setting the right academic agenda, support from corporations and government policies.

The Government, he said, can facilitate corporate initiatives in skilled workforce training through tax exemptions and by removing bureaucracy and red-tape.

“Our workforce must be capable of competing internationally.

“If we use the minimum wage as a benchmark of an advanced industrialised nation, then the quality of our labour must be benchmarked the same way,” he added.

The Star is the strategic partner of the one-day conference, which was sponsored by the Jeffrey Cheah Foundation.