Dewan Rakyat passes Sales Tax bill following second reading
(File pic) The Dewan Rakyat on Tuesday passed the Sales Tax 2018 Bill following its second reading by Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng. (NSTP / MOHD YUSNI ARIFFIN)
By Mohd Anwar Patho Rohman and Hidir Reduan - August 7, 2018 @ 10:03pm
KUALA LUMPUR: The Dewan Rakyat on Tuesday passed the Sales Tax 2018 Bill following its second reading by Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng.
The bill was approved via block voting after the opposition had tabled a motion to ask for the debate at the committee stage to be handed over to the Select Committee.
The motion was tabled by Datuk Seri Dr Ronald Kiandee (BN-Beluran) in accordance with Standing Order 54(2).
The rule dictates that the motion cannot be debated and must be decided by the Dewan Rakyat.
Dewan Rakyat Speaker, Datuk Mohamad Ariff Md Yusof, then called for a block voting.
Mohamad Ariff then announced the outcome of the block vote, where 51 members voted for, 111 voted against while four abstained.
“With this, the motion proposed by Beluran is denied,” said the Speaker.
He then ordered for the debate at the bill committee stage to be continued on Wednesday.
Earlier during the tabling, Lim said the government will increase the annual sales threshold for eligibility to register for the sales tax to RM500,000 annually under the Sales and Tax Service Tax (SST) from RM100,000 previously.
Lim said the annual turnover threshold of RM500,000 would also apply to manufacturers who carry out sub-manufacturing activities, for which the annual sales threshold was at RM20,000 before.
"This is to enable small-sized manufacturers to operate without having to pay this tax," he said.
Lim said the government expected only 27,456 manufacturers would be registered under the Sales Tax compared with 32,725 under the Goods and Services Tax (GST).
He said subsequently, most manufacturers would fall out of the scope of the Sales Tax and this would eventually reduce the cost of tax compliance and administration for small-sized manufacturers.
During the winding up, Lim had locked horns with several opposition MPs, especially Khairy Jamaluddin (BN-Rembau), who had asked the former to explain the rationale behind replacing the Goods and Services Tax (GST).
There was also more verbal sparring in Parliament when Tony Pua asserted that GST increased business costs.
The argument was triggered when Pua (PH-Damansara) touched on the issue of increased business costs in collecting GST during the debate on the Sales Tax Bill 2018.
When Pua mentioned that businesses were in fear of inspections by agents from the Customs Department on proper calculation of the GST, Khairy Jamaluddin (BN-Rembau) insinuated that the businesses were actually trying to evade paying tax.
“So (the businesses) were afraid of being audited. To avoid paying (GST) tax,” Khairy said.
Datuk Seri Tajuddin Abdul Rahman (BN-Pasir Salak) then stood up and loudly said, "(It is a) lie."
“When I bring facts to show Rembau’s arguments do not make sense, he looks uncomfortable,” Pua remarked.
