He said Lim should clearly state that the money was stolen by Barisan Nasional, instead of pointing fingers at the previous administration.
In his Facebook post, Najib said the present government’s decision not to collect GST for the past three months had reduced the government’s income by at least RM15 billion. There was also a shortfall in income of RM8 billion for the months of September and December 2018.
Last week, Lim dropped a bombshell in the Dewan Rakyat when he stated that BN had “robbed” GST refunds and due to that there was a shortfall of RM19 billion not paid to traders since 2015.
So far, BN’s Rembau MP Khairy Jamaluddin has lodged a police report over the matter and wants the case to be brought to court if there was such a “robbery”.
The 6% GST rate was zero-rated from June 1 with the sales and services tax (SST) to be introduced from Sept 1.
Najib said the government will also have to pay back traders input tax of RM8 billion for April and May for GST incurred on business purchases and expenses (including import of goods).
“That will involve a loss of a total of RM31 billion this year.”
He said all these losses in revenue from GST will result in the government cutting aid to the poor and not increasing salaries of civil servants.
Najib said the PH government was content on blaming its failure in implementing its election manifesto promises on BN and hiding behind the immunity provided by Parliament in claiming BN had “robbed” the country of RM19 billion in GST refunds.
He also warned the public to brace themselves for new taxes that the PH government will need to introduce in lieu of the shortfall from scrapping the GST.