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Saturday November 28, 2009

Fomca: Think of the poor in GST plan

By DHARMENDER SINGH


PUTRAJAYA: Fomca hopes that the interest of the poor would be looked into in the Government’s plan to impose a 4% goods and services tax (GST).

Although Fomca’s studies had found that the GST would not be an added burden to the people as it worked on the basis that the more they spend, the more they pay in taxes, its president Datuk N. Marimuthu said the Government would need to study the needs of the “poorest of the poor”.

This was to ensure that their welfare was well looked after, he said.

“The Government’s decision to exclude essential goods like rice, sugar, cooking oil and flour from the tax means that those in the lower income group will not face an added strain in providing for their families,” he said when contacted yesterday.

Those who purchased high-end goods would end up paying more than those buying the cheaper goods and “we feel that it is a fair way to impose taxes,” he said.

On Thursday, Second Finance Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah announced that the GST would be fixed at 4%.

The Bill to introduce the tax would be tabled for first reading in Parliament by next month.

Meanwhile, Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) expressed its disappointment over the decision to implement the GST, calling it “a blatant attempt to shift the tax burden onto the ordinary folk.”

PSM central committee member Dr D. Jeyakumar said in a statement yesterday that the tax would be a further burden to the poor amid the worst recession since the 1930s.

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