KUALA LUMPUR: Former prime minister Najib Razak today urged the Pakatan Harapan government to implement the sales and services tax (SST) as soon as possible to cover the revenue shortfall following the scrapping of the goods and services tax (GST).
He warned that the government’s cash flow would be seriously affected if the SST was not implemented by Sept 1.
“This (revenue shortfall) has then to be compensated some other way.
“The government has no choice but to introduce the SST as soon as possible,” he said in the Dewan Rakyat lobby.
The PH government effectively scrapped GST last month when it zero-rated the tax, and intends to implement SST in September.
The coalition had listed abolishing the GST – introduced by the Najib administration in 2015 – as one of its election promises ahead of the May 9 polls.
Critics of the GST said the tax had led to inflation and increased the cost of living.