Baby steps towards reform in budget announcements

WHEN the Budget 2024 speech began just after 4pm last Friday, it was rather a surprise to hear that Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim early on in his speech delivering key tax measures.

This include the increase in the sales and service tax (SST) from 6% to 8%, announcement of new legislation that will govern high-value goods tax of between 5% to 10% based on item-price threshold values as well as the introduction of a 10% capital gains tax on the disposal of unlisted shares for companies.