IPOH, April 22 — The Perak government is negotiating with the Finance Ministry on the list of items that will be excluded from taxes once Pangkor Island is gazetted as duty-free, Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Ahmad Faizal Azumu (PH-Chenderiang) said.
He added the island’s duty-free designation should not affect its position as a family-friendly tourist spot.
Ahmad Faizal was responding to a supplementary question from Datuk Seri Zambry Abd Kadir (BN-Pangkor) who requested the list of items that would be tax-free.
Zambry said when the duty-free status was first announced by the previous Barisan Nasional federal government during the tabling of Budget 2018, the suggestion was for the island to be family friendly.
“Items like liquor and cigarettes should not be included in the tax-free list,” he said.
Earlier, Ahmad Faizal informed the House that the jetty at Pangkor town would be for tourists while Sungai Pinang Besar jetty would be for cargo.
Sultan of Perak Sultan Nazrin Muizzuddin Shah had during the opening of the second session of the 14th Perak assembly at the State Secretariat building here announced that Pangkor Island would get its duty-free status on January 1 next year.
The sultan said the state government has submitted an application to gazette the island as duty-free.
Then prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak who was also finance minister at that time said the west coast island would be declared tax free, with the exception of tobacco, alcohol and vehicles.
Local tourism players had previously said that the duty-free status was a good idea if authorities used the tax-free status to bring in stores that sold branded goods like chocolates, perfumes and clothing.
