The moral case for GST

The road to a broad-based consumption tax in Malaysia has been long and tortuous, stretching back more than a decade before its brief life under Barisan Nasional (BN). In December 2009, the then-government first introduced the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill in Parliament, pledging that a uniform, 6% levy would replace the patchwork of Sales and Service Taxes (SST) then ranging from 5 to 15%.

Despite initial plans to roll out GST by late 2011, fierce public resistance, fueled by fears of rising living costs and concerns about insufficient safeguards for low-income households, led to repeated postponements.