Sabah has earned RM800mil in sales tax on petroleum products so far this year: Masidi

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah has collected RM808mil in state sales tax (SST) on petroleum products so far this year, says Datuk Seri Masidi Manjun.

The state Finance Minister II said this represented some 73% of the RM1.1bil the state estimated to collect from SST on petroleum products for 2022.

“This brings the overall collection from sales tax on petroleum products to RM2.458bil since it was implemented on April 1, 2020,” he said during the question-and-answer session at the state assembly sitting here on Tuesday (July 19).

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He was replying to nominated assemblyman Datuk Seri Yong Teck Lee who had asked how much Sabah estimated it would collect from SST on such products.

Masidi also told the House that the state government would start taxing ammonia and urea from Aug 1.

“We expect this will contribute some RM46mil to the state’s income this year.

“The government wants only to solidify the state’s revenue collection but also optimise it in order to contribute to development and the people’s well-being.

“Hence, the government views the collection of SST on petroleum products as well as other products seriously.

“We will not hesitate to take legal action (against any party), exhausting all our constitutional rights, in order to claim all overdue SST payments,” Masidi said.

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To a supplementary question by Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal (Warisan-Senallang), who inquired about job prospects for locals in the oil and gas sector, Masidi said the government would prioritise Sabahans.

He said the state had in place a rigid system for non-Sabahans to apply for work permits in the industry.

“I know there are some 2,000 Sabahans who have the skill to work in the sector. Our policy is ‘Sabah First’.

“If a non-local company has workers not from Sabah, they will have to apply for work passes first. But before that, we will look at our database to see if any Sabahan has the required skill.

“If there are, then we will not issue the work permits (and) the companies must take Sabahans. As long as there are Sabahans with the skill set, they will be given priority,” Masidi said.