The Goods and Services Tax (GST) is set to kick off in April next year, and while there will be a long list of basic necessities exempted from the tax, petrol will not be in it.
This was disclosed by Royal Malaysian Customs Department senior assistant director Ishak Daud at a GST briefing organised by Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman and Malaysian Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators in KL yesterday.
He told Chinese language newspaper Sin Chew Daily that the government plans to announce the addition of 80 to 85 zero-rated items at or before the 2015 Budget, which is scheduled to be tabled in Parliament in October. Zero rated = no GST.
It was previously reported that the government was considering the possibility of exempting RON 95 petrol and diesel from GST. Both are exempt from the current sales tax, which the 6% GST will replace. This means that if the rate of fuel subsidy remains the same, price of petrol is set to increase come April 2015.
The “mass market” RON 95 petrol, currently priced at RM2.10 per litre at the pumps, is subsidised by the government. RON 97 prices are fixed based on a managed float with the monthly price determined by market forces. Earlier this week, it dropped 10 sen to RM2.75 per litre.
