KUALA LUMPUR, May 10 – The National Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Malaysia (NCCIM) hopes that the government will reimplement the Goods and Services Tax (GST) – at a rate of 4%.
NCCIM president Tan Sri Soh Thian Lai said the government must also find additional sources to increase revenue.
“Currently, the government relies on additional taxes such as Low Value Goods Tax and High Value Goods Tax. It puts a lot of pressure on our business community,“ he told reporters at the National Economic Forum 2024 on Thursday.
He said the government needs to be consistent and have a clear policy in the implementation of GST.
“If the government suffers from lack of money syndrome for many years, the way to increase revenue is to increase exports to generate more revenue and taxes, one of them,“ he said.
Soh said NCCIM thinks GST is a better tax system. “We have tried to propose to the government a few times …. hope it will be considered,“ he said.
Commenting on Malaysia’s economic outlook for 2024, he said a recovery through exports can be seen with increased investment and rebound in the tourism sector which will continue to drive growth.
“The development of the tourism sector jumped by 3.9% for the first quarter of this year with a recovery of 0.9% in the last quarter of last year,“ he added.
However, Soh said, customer spending may be limited by the weak ringgit, increase in Sales and Services Tax as well as the rationalisation of government subsidies coupled with cost of living pressure and inflation.
