Pemandu: Don't expect GST anytime soon
Public opinion on the goods and service tax (GST) is still low and is thus likely to delay the implementation of the consumption-based tax further, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Idris Jala said today.
Public opinion on the goods and service tax (GST) is still low and is thus likely to delay the implementation of the consumption-based tax further, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Idris Jala said today. 
Idris, who heads the department’s Performance Management and Delivery Unit (Pemandu), said implementation of the system would require at least 18 months from the time the government makes a decision.
"(This is) because all the retailers will have to change their system, and anti-profiteering laws must also be implemented," he said.
"So don't expect it anytime soon. It's not going to happen tomorrow."
Given the lengthy minimum implementation period for the GST system, it is possible that it cannot be implemented before the 13th general election, which must be called at the latest by early 2013.
Without giving a timeline as to when the tax system will be implemented, Idris said the government still has to "engage and educate" the public about it.
"We want to make sure that the public opinion for it is supportive. So I cannot just impose a deadline as to when the GST will be implemented unless we have a clear picture of public opinion softening towards the GST," he told a press conference at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre this morning.
"If it was up to Pemandu entirely, it would have been implemented yesterday... we have seen the wisdom in its implementation in 143 countries in the world, and we have seen its wisdom in our labs.”
No GST on staples
There is much work to be done to reverse the public view of GST, Idris said, accusing unnamed quarters of "spinning stories" that the GST will hurt the income of the poor.
Assuring that staple foods and commodities will not fall under the GST, he said the policy is already common in countries where even public transportation fees have been left untouched by GST.
With his oft-used argument, he also justified the need for a GST to broaden the tax base so that the government "can continue to have enough money for food subsidies".
Pemandu estimates that, if the GST is implemented, it could range between four and five percent of the price of goods or services.
The GST is a broad-based tax imposed on every level of a product, from raw materials all the way to finished goods. It is expected to replace the current six percent tax.
Idris also today announced the six Strategic Reform Initiatives (SRIs) under the Economic Transformation Programme.
According to information provided at the SRI exhibition, every Malaysian above the age of 21 will receive a one-time rebate of RM100 if the GST is implemented.
The GST will have to be higher than five percent before there is any reduction in income tax, both personal and corporate.
Expected to boost the government coffers by RM6 billion or more by 2015, the GST was mooted during the tenure of former premier Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.
However, the GST Bill only made it to Parliament for first reading in December 2009 before the government retracted it in March last year, following a public outcry.
