He said the 10% service charge was too high, adding that the government had relaxed many conditions for restaurant operators in the hope they would reduce their service charge.

“I hope all restaurant and food shop operators will review their service charge of 10% as I find the rate is rather high and burdening the people,” he told reporters after opening a Lantern Festival Celebration at Bukit Bendera.

Lim said while the collection of service charge was to cover the workers’ wages, the rate should be reduced.

He said the government had given relaxations such as raising the service tax threshold to RM1.5 million and above on food and drinks, tax exemption on sales of cigarettes under the threshold RM500,000 and tax exemption on the rent for small stalls and food shops.

Meanwhile, Lim said the sales and service tax (SST) could cause prices of goods to rise, but not as high as the goods and services tax (GST) .

“The actual impact of the benefits of SST implementation compared to GST would be known after one year,” he said, responding to remarks by former prime minister Najib Razak.