KUALA LUMPUR: The government is not ruling out reintroducing the Goods and Services Tax (GST) which was abolished in 2018.
Economy Minister Rafizi Ramli said the government, however, will first prioritise its strategy to widen the nation's revenue base, while focusing on redeveloping and rolling out of the Capital Gains Tax, which was slated to be implemented in 2024.
"The government will stick to our strategy and is open to go through any ways to achieve fiscal sustainability through a wider revenue base.
"Hence, whether it is going to be the GST, Capital Gains Tax or any form of direct and indirect tax, we will only decide on a case-to-case or year-to-year basis.
"Meanwhile, any announcement with regards to any introduction of new tax or revenue will then be made by the Finance Ministry from one budget announcement to another," he said in a press conference at parliament, today.
Rafizi said this when asked whether the government plans to reimplement GST under the 12th Malaysian Plan (12MP) mid-term review.
Previously, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim in March this year said Malaysia is not ready for the reinstatement of GST anytime soon.
Anwar reiterated that the people's income and threshold must first be increased and at a reasonable level for GST to be reinstated.