Tourism tax: Hotel industry wants issues resolved
KOTA KINABALU: There are several issues affecting the hotel industry which must be resolved before any implementation of the Tourism Tax Act.
Sabah Hotel Association president Christopher Chan said the delay in the implementation of the Tourism Tax would enable the authorities to actually know the legal issues that would affect the hotel business and crucial adjustments to the hotel operations, including penalties imposed by Customs and enforcement authorities.
“We are also tasked with adjusting our front office software programs and this without any knowledge concerning Customs’ requirement in the reporting format and training,” he said.
Additionally, IT (Information Technology) consultants must also be consulted on the required format before adjusting the hotels’ accounting programs, he said, adding that no consultation with the industry from the relevant authorities to confirm the reporting format acceptable to them had been carried out.
“We have questions as to the exemptions and identifying the tourist proof of payment of such tax as it is for the room and not on headcount. Really mind boggling going through the tax bill,” he said.
Tourism and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Nazri Abdul Aziz announced on Tuesday that the tourism tax will be deferred from July 1 to August 1 after it drew widespread criticism from Sabah and Sarawak.
He said the government was not ready to implement the tourism tax on July 1.
Nazri also said the tax would only affect foreigners staying in all types of hotels while Malaysians staying in hotels that are rated three-star or below will be exempt.
The tax would be divided into four categories – charges for five-star hotels would be RM20, RM10 for four stars, RM5 for three stars, and RM2.50 for two stars and below.
Besides being heavily criticised by Sabah and Sarawak, the controversial tax also started a spat between Nazri and Sarawak Tourism Minister Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah, which later involved Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Abdul Rahman Dahlan who is from Sabah.
Meanwhile, Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) Youth chief Tsang Hieng Yee has echoed the call by Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Seri Panglima Raymond Tan Su Kiah to DAP Sabah chairman Stephen Wong not to lie to the people that DAP members of parliament have all been fighting hard to oppose the Tourism Tax Bill when the truth is far from being so.
As verified from the record of the Parliament sitting on the day of the debate, Tsang said Stephen as well as Jimmy Wong, both DAP MPs for Sabah, never spoke a single word against the bill at the debate. Stephen had painted the picture as though he had done many things to oppose the Bill but the record of the debate shows otherwise. Such inaction from both MPs to oppose the Bill at such a golden opportunity was very puzzling. The only conclusion that could be made from such a finding is that they might not even be present at Parliament on that day.
Tsang opined that if Stephen, contrary to what he alleged, has not fought hard to stop the Bill as claimed by him, then he should tell the truth or at least keep quiet, instead of saying otherwise to the people. Such conduct seems unbecoming for a people’s representative. By doing so, it could amount to lying to the people.
“Although there are points and mileage that politicians need to gain in the path of their career, they should still do it with integrity, dignity, honesty and fairness. Politicians should not manipulate facts, misrepresent or create false facts just for the sake of their career advancement at the expense of the people’s wisdom,” he said.
This, in the opinion of LDP Youth, shall always be borne in mind by all politicians in Malaysia no matter from which divide they are from.