Call to introduce Goods and Services Tax in M'sia now
It’s timely as Malaysia still enjoys fairly strong economic growth
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia should introduce the Goods and Services Tax (GST) now as the country is still enjoying a fairly strong economic growth.
Wan Heng Choon, senior executive director, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Taxation, said while Malaysia was still enjoying reasonable rates of growth and bringing its budget deficit under control, now would be the best time to introduce the tax.
He said there were calls for the GST to be implemented after a grace period of at least 12 to 18 months after it was announced and there were concerns that the tax would cause inflation. “In this respect, there must be a commitment to assist the lower income group. There is a need to make the tax simple to understand,” Wan said during a briefing on Budget 2013.
Meanwhile, PwC Taxation senior executive director Jagdev Singh said Malaysia's economy remained positive but highly uncertain and “this fits into the global picture” in tandem with the uncertainty caused by the eurozone debt crisis, mixed but generally weak economic growth amongst advanced nations and slowing growth in Asia.
Jagdev said there were a number of challenges in the Malaysian economy such as managing the fiscal deficit. “The fiscal deficit has been running for the 15th straight year.”
“What is important now is to bring it down to something more manageable,” he added.
Jagdev said the Government's target to reduce the deficit to 3% by 2015 is achievable, helped by the its revenue growth.
In this respect, he said the Government's direct tax for 2012 would likely increase 10% to 15% from the previous year.
“The target of 3% is achievable but the Government needs to put in some measures to control cost,” he said.
The other factor that would have major impact on fiscal deficit, he said, was subsidy, which accounted for almost 20% of governnemnt spending. For instance, the fuel subsidy was estimated at RM20bil last year. - Bernama
Source : The star
Date : 21 Sep 2012
Today's Pick (21/09/12/167/860)
No comments:
Post a Comment