No talks on bringing back GST, says finance minister

There have been no discussions on reintroducing the goods and services tax (GST) at Cabinet meetings, says Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Aziz.

He said GST implementation would require discussion at the Cabinet level and must be tabled in Parliament first.

"Any new tax must be approved by the Cabinet and then tabled in Parliament. Before the dissolution of Parliament, there was no Cabinet approval for GST," he told reporters in Kuala Selangor yesterday.

Zafrul said this in response to claims by Pakatan Harapan leaders that GST would be reintroduced after the 15th general election.

He said at least 160 countries in the world had implemented GST and that the tax system was more efficient and able to reduce leakage.
 
"Our current tax to GDP ratio is around 11%, which is relatively low. This shows that what we have now is not efficient.

"(However) this does not mean that we will introduce a new tax in the near future. What is important is that the tax imposed does not burden the people and can be used to develop the country," he said.

The GST of 6% was introduced on April 1, 2015. It was abolished and replaced with the sales and services tax on Sept 1, 2018.

The current sales tax rates are 5% and 10%, while the service tax rate is 6%.