TELUK INTAN, May 27 — Tax collection, expected to increase next year, will be returned to the people in the form of development projects and subsidies, says Deputy Minister of Finance Datuk Ahmad Maslan.
He said the tax proceeds would be channelled back to the people through the development of education and health infrastructures.
He said claims by the opposition that the goods and services tax (GST) would be an added burden to the people were baseless as the consumer tax was not something new.
“They claimed the GST was a new burden but they did not explain that all this while the people have been paying sales tax since 1972, which was collected in factories,” he told reporters after meeting customs officers here today.
Ahmad Maslan explained that the GST was not a new tax but was a replacement to the existing sales and services tax and the people were still oblivious to the fact that they have been paying taxes indirectly for goods such as clothes, electrical appliances and furniture.
He said the Customs Department collected RM33.13 billion in taxes last year, which was 98.14 per cent of target set for 2013. — Bernama
