Imposing service tax on maintenance sector not done transparently, says Syed Saddiq

KUALA LUMPUR: Adding the maintenance and repair sector to the taxable list should not have been rushed, says Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman (Muda-Muar).

“It was included at the last minute and not tabled in Parliament. There were no discussions, with the move also being criticised by experts,” he said when debating the motion of thanks on the Royal Address in the Dewan Rakyat on Monday (March 4).

He said no stakeholder engagements were carried out, adding that the move was made “without transparency”.

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“This sector is very broad and general. Does it include laptop, handphone, car or other repairs?

“This will increase the cost of living.

“Don’t make these moves at the last minute and discuss it (later),” he said,

The inclusion of maintenance on the taxable list was revealed in a federal gazette on an amendment to the service tax regulations.

The document also noted that this new arrangement was to start from Feb 26, along with the implementation of sales and service tax (SST) on several other services, namely logistics, brokerage, underwriting and karaoke.

Syed Saddiq also raised the matter of new taxes such as the low value and high value goods taxes, adding that it would have a serious effect on consumers.

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Separately, he said a formal response should be issued as to why certain videos were taken down by social media platforms.

“What is there to fear?

"Don’t (just) say the government can only apply for a video to be taken down (and removing it is up to the platform),” he said.

On Tuesday (Feb 27), Deputy Communications Minister Teo Nie Ching told the Dewan Rakyat that social media platform providers were not bound to “take orders” to remove content deemed critical of the government.

The following day, Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil said 8,071 undesirable videos were removed from TikTok from the beginning of last year up to Feb 15 this year.

He said the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), with the cooperation of the platform provider, saw to the removal of content that breached Malaysian laws as well as TikTok's community guidelines.