DEWAN RAKYAT PASSES THE SALES TAX 2018 BILL FOLLOWING SECOND READING
Threshold for annual sales tax to be increased to RM500,000
THE Dewan Rakyat yesterday passed the Sales Tax 2018 Bill following its second reading by Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng. The bill was approved via block voting after the opposition tabled a motion requesting for debate at the committee stage to be handed over to the Select Committee.
The motion was tabled by Datuk Seri Dr Ronald Kiandee (Barisan Nasional-Beluran) in accordance with Standing Order 54(2).
However, the rule dictates that the motion cannot be debated and must be decided by the Dewan Rakyat.
Speaker Datuk Mohamad Ariff Md Yusof then called for block voting. He announced the outcome of the block vote, where 51 members voted for, 111 voted against, with four abstaining.
“With this, the motion proposed by Beluran is denied.”
He then ordered for the debate at the committee stage to be continued today.
Earlier, during the tabling, Lim said the government would increase the annual sale threshold for those eligi1ble to register for the tax to RM500,000 from RM100,000 previously.
He said the annual turnover threshold of RM500,000 would apply to manufacturers, who carried out sub-manufacturing, for which the annual sale threshold was at RM20,000 previously.
“This is to enable small manufacturers to operate without having to pay this tax.”
He said the government expected 27,456 manufacturers to be registered under the Sales and Services Tax compared with 32,725 under the Goods and Services Tax (GST).
During the winding-up, Lim locked horns with several opposition members of parliament, especially Khairy Jamaluddin (BN-Rembau), who had asked him to explain the rationale behind replacing GST.
There was more verbal sparring when Tony Pua (Pakatan Harapan-Damansara) said GST increased business costs.
The argument was triggered when Pua touched on the issue of increased business costs in collecting GST during the debate on the bill.
When Pua said businesses were in fear of inspections by agents from the Customs Department on the tabulation of GST, Khairy insinuated that such businesses were trying to evade paying taxes.
“They (the businesses) were afraid of being audited. To avoid paying (GST) tax,” Khairy said.
Datuk Seri Tajuddin Abdul Rahman (BN-Pasir Salak) stood up and loudly said: “(It is a) lie.”
“When I bring facts to show Rembau’s arguments do not make sense, he looks uncomfortable,” Pua said.