Sales tax boost for auto sector

Welcome move: In the Short-term Economic Recovery Plan, locally assembled cars will be fully exempted from the sales tax while sales tax for imported cars will be cut from 10% to 5%, from June 15 to Dec 31,2020. — FAIHAN GHANI/The Star

KUALA LUMPUR: The exemption of sales tax for locally assembled cars and the lowering of the tax for imported cars will see buyers saving several thousand ringgit to more than RM10,000 in their purchases from June 15 until the end of the year.

And with a cheaper price tag, demand for new cars is expected to rise as consumers will be keen to capitalise on the tax holiday, which was last seen when the previous Goods and Services Tax (GST) was zero-rated for three months in 2018 before it was abolished.