TTF: There is a paper written by a Suresh Narayanan of the School of Social Sciences in Universiti Sains Malaysia that is a clear reflection of how Pakatan Harapan (PH) politicians think.
A section of the paper that addresses the people’s fears with regards to the GST goes as follows:
1. The introduction of GST or a similar VAT in many countries has been associated with a one-time increase in the general price level. When coupled with the proposed scaling back of subsidies (which the administration of Dato’ Seri Najib Tun Razak undertook to effect), there is fear that the one-time impact on prices could be even greater.
2. Being a broad based tax on consumption, the GST is likely to be regressive (that is, it would extract a larger proportion of the earnings of lower income households by way of taxes relative to higher income households).
3. The proposed rate of GST, though low, would rise over time, especially if government spending is not managed properly.
4. A fiscally irresponsible government would use the GST as a revenue generating machine without addressing wasteful expenditures and leakages that occur through corruption, the lack of transparency and accountability in the management of public finances.
If I were to have written the paper, the first thing I would have done would have been to highlight the pros and cons of the GST without incorporating any of my personal views or prejudices in them
Only upon accomplishing this would I have listed out the people’s fears before critically examining these fears to derive some conclusions.
But Suresh did nothing of that sort.
The biggest mistake he made was to ignore the interference Pakatan Harapan (PH) politicians had on the people when they flooded the internet with criticism against the Najib administration.
He should have made note that the criticism would have influenced the man on the street to think that the administration used the GST as “a revenue generating machine without addressing wasteful expenditures and leakages that occur through corruption”
The fact that he didn’t points to the idea that academicians themselves may have been prejudiced against Najib and could even have dished out papers slanted against him.
The funny thing about these papers is that they’re somehow being published by credible journal organisations.
Suresh’s paper was published in 2014.
If a hundred such papers were to have been read by a thousand lecturers, imagine how many students these lecturers would have influenced in a span of just three years prior to the 14th general election (GE14).
Some of these students could have gone on to vote against Barisan Nasional simply because their lecturers cited papers from credible journals that jived at some level with claims made by PH politicians against Najib.
Can you see how much damage PH has caused the country?
The spite-filled media campaign Dr Mahathir Mohamad launched in 2014 was so effective, it went into “outorun” and may even have waded its way into the conscience of our lecturers and graduates.
That probably explains why people like Lim Guan Eng no longer have qualms telling you that the GST was actually a good thing (see news item below).
Like the rest of PH, Lim knows that Mahathir’s campaign somehow created an “invisible outrage machine” that is now influencing every layer of the socio-economic strata without PH having to do a damn thing.
So you see, while the “civil society” continues to fuel and feed itself with anti-Najib sentiments, PH leaders are quietly seizing the opportunity to tell you the truth even if that truth contradicts everything they told you prior to GE14.
They know that society is too busy convincing itself to hate Najib that anything they say will be taken in good faith.
Now do you understand the uphill battle people like me are facing when attempting to change the people’s perception against Najib?
KUALA LUMPUR: Lim Guan Eng tidak menafikan sistem Cukai Barangan dan Perkhidmatan (GST) yang dijalankan kerajaan terdahulu dilihat lebih telus dalam pelaksanaannya.
Disebabkan ketelusan itu, jelas Menteri Kewangan, kerajaan berjaya mengutip hasil yang lebih banyak berbanding pelaksanaan Cukai Jualan dan Cukai Perkhidmatan (SST).
Bagaimanapun, beliau menegaskan, pelaksanaan GST telah memberi impak dan tekanan yang meluas kepada setiap lapisan masyarakat, terutama kepada pengguna akhir.
“Kalau kita sebut, antara GST dan SST, yang mana lebih telus? Sudah tentu GST lebih telus.
“Bagaimanapun, apabila kita sebut GST lebih telus, maknanya ia boleh kutip lebih banyak cukai dengan lebih meluas dan juga mempunyai kesan kepada rakyat.
“Sedangkan SST, sungguhpun tidak setelus atau tidak efisyen seperti GST, kesannya kepada rakyat khususnya pengguna akhir, yang mana kita beri tumpuan dan keprihatinan, kurang beri impak kepada rakyat,” ujarnya pada sesi jawab lisan di Dewan Rakyat di sini hari ini.
Beliau berkata demikian sebagai menjawab soalan tambahan daripada Datuk Ahmad Maslan (BN – Pontian) yang meminta Menteri Kewangan membandingkan tahap ketelusan antara GST dan SST.
Lim pada masa sama tidak menafikan pelaksanaan SST akan memberi impak kepada rakyat.
“Kita tidak nafikan, kita bukan macam Barisan Nasional (BN) yang menyatakan bahawa GST akan menyebabkan harga barang turun, tidak. Kita tidak akan nafikan hakikat sebenarnya yang berlaku.
“Bagaimanapun, apa yang penting ialah impak kepada SST adalah kurang daripada GST.
“Kerana, GST mengutip RM44 bilion sementara SST hanya RM21 bilion, iaitu pengurangan RM23 bilion,” ujarnya menjawab soalan tambahan Datuk Seri Wee Ka Siong (BN – Ayer Hitam).
Mengulas lanjut, bercakap pada sidang media di lobi Parlimen, Lim berkata, GST merangkumi 60 peratus daripada Bakul Barangan dan Perkhidmatan Indeks Harga Pengguna (CPI) berbanding SST yang hanya merangkumi 38 peratus daripada Bakul Barangan CPI.
Tambahnya, banyak lagi barangan dan perkhidmatan lain yang dikenakan GST namun tidak akan dikenakan SST.
“Contohnya (tidak akan dikenakan SST), susu formula bayi, caj doktor di hospital, motosikal bawah 250 cc, caj transaksi perbankan serta tiket wayang,” katanya.
Source: Astro Awani
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