Toyo Tyre to monitor impact of service tax increase on its operations

Tyres manufacturer Toyo Tyre Malaysia Sdn Bhd (TTM) is monitoring the impact the increase in service tax from 6 per cent to 8 per cent starting March 1 will have on the company’s operations.

Its president and managing director Mike Toh said this is because many aspects of the company’s operations are exposed to any changes in the sales and service tax (SST).

“I will say at this point in time that we are still not able to judge the real impact but we believe that this is one of the side impacts.

“Should our operations be affected by the increase in service tax, of course the cost of operations will rise.

As such we have to observe the development of this impact,” he said when met at the company’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) programme Wednesday.

The TTM factory was built with an investment of RM1.6 billion in Kamunting Raya, Taiping to produce tyres for passenger cars and light trucks and exported to various countries including the United States.

Toh said the commercial production of the brand from Japan started in June 2013 and the company currently employs about 1,700 workers, all of which are Malaysians.

On the CSR programme, Toh said that every year since 2013, the company would spent an allocation to provide financial assistance to students, including undergraduates, from RM2,400-RM4,000 per student each year.

He said that as of this year, the total contributions under the education financial assistance programme has reached RM1.8 million.

The programme which started in 2013 had benefitted 47 undergraduates, (31 of whom have successfully completed their studies) who are pursuing their studies at local universities and 413 primary school students from underprivilegedfamiliesaround the Kamunting and Taiping area, he said. — Bernama