Well, we need to collect money somehow to run the country

GST existed for a while in Malaysia, beginning in 2015, but was repealed under a new government in 2018. Now there's talk of reviving it. — Filepic/The Star

I've been travelling again and was recently perusing sushi and snow crabs in Japan as well as other souvenirs to remember the trip by. But apart from exotic food and knick-knacks, one thing that caught my eye was how the Japanese label prices in shops: sometimes the cost you see on the sticker isn’t what you actually pay.

It’s all about consumption tax. In some places, the price on display is one that excludes tax, which means at the register you have to pay an extra 10%. But at other times it works the other way round: As a tourist, you can get a discount at certain shops if you buy more than ¥5,000 (RM158) of goods, because consumption tax does not apply to tourists.