SHAH ALAM: The Pakatan Harapan (PH) Presidential Council disagrees with the proposal by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob to re-implement the goods and services tax (GST).
In a statement, the council said with the rising inflation, the people are very affected by the soaring costs of living, as well as depleted gross income due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
"The reintroduction of GST will result in the prices of goods to rise sharply and coupled with supply chain problems as well as stagnant wages, the people will be receiving tremendous pressure.
"At a time where the perception towards the government's governance has yet to recover due to the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) scandal, along with the country was ranked 62nd in Transparency International Corruption Perception Index (CPI) 2021 and second in The Economist's crony-capitalism index, it is unreasonable for the government to collect more taxes from the people.
"This, without first proving that the reforms and improvements in government's governance have been successfully implemented.
"There is no point in collecting more taxes if the people's money will eventually be wasted due to corruption, leakages and cronyism," read the joint statement by PKR president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, Parti Amanah Negara president Mohamad Sabu, DAP secretary-general Loke Siew Fook and United Progressive Kinabalu Organisation (Upko) president Datuk Seri Wilfred Madius Tangau.
The council said the prime minister must be reminded that the majority of Malaysians rejected GST in the last election.
"As such, PH does not agree with the proposal to re-introduce GST when various issues continue to plague the people."
Recently, Ismail Sabri told Nikkei in an interview during his recent visit to Japan that the Malaysian government was keen on re-introducing GST.
GST was introduced in Malaysia in 2015 but was scrapped during the administration of the PH government in 2018.