KUALA LUMPUR, April 11 — The controversial Goods and Services Tax (GST) introduced by the Barisan Nasional (BN) government may be reviewed if Pakatan Rakyat (PR) comes into power, PKR vice-president Nurul Izzah Anwar said.

The Lembah Pantai MP told Astro Awani today that there are other taxation mechanisms available to increase tax revenue, such as the Capital Gains Tax (CGT) recently proposed by PR in its alternative budget for 2015.

“That (reviewing the GST) is one approach we may consider,” she was quoted saying in Astro Awani’s report.

“There are other mechanisms like the CGT and the Inheritance Tax. Our focus is to increase workers’ earnings and generate economic growth through better wealth distribution,” she added.

Chua Tian Chang, another PKR vice-president, told Astro Awani that the recent increase in prices of goods after the GST had come as no surprise.

He said the federal opposition had already predicted such an outcome.

“This phenomenon occurred in every country that introduced the GST,” he was quoted saying in the same report.

In its alternative budget tabled last October, PR had proposed that Putrajaya implement a CGT in place of GST, saying the former taxes those who stand to make large profits from market place transactions instead of imposing a consumption tax that will affect all and sundry, regardless of earning capacity.

The pact also claimed the CGT could collect up to RM3 billion in taxes for the government, compared to RM8 billion in estimated tax collections through the GST.

It also proposed that the government impose an Inheritance Tax on Malaysia’s multi-millionaires with assets worth over RM5 million.

Pointing to the UK, the opposition said the practice had netted the British government RM14 billion in revenue.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, however, has defended his administration’s plan to roll out the GST, saying in October last year that PR’s CGT will cripple Malaysia’s stock market and scare off investors.

Describing the proposed CGT as “not well thought through”, Najib claimed the opposition pact clearly did not consider the potential impact their tax plan would have on both domestic and international businesses operating in the country.

PR’s PAS is staging a mass rally against the GST today, hoping to ramp up pressure on the government to call off the new tax system.

Organised by the Islamist opposition party’s scholar’s wing, the rally titled “An assembly of the people’s suffering — 10 days after GST” is expected to kick off from 4pm onwards at an open field in the city.

Various groups have staged protests against the tax, with the next demonstration by #KitaLawan organisers held next month on May 1, a day traditionally held for protests by labour unions.

Detractors have argued that the GST is “regressive” and that the broad-based consumption tax takes a larger percentage of income from those in the low-income groups rather than from high-income earners.

Economists, however, view the GST favourably, saying that it is necessary to broaden the tax base, but cautioned the government to cut wastage and leakages at the same time to improve the country’s finances.