Go to govt hospitals to avoid GST

BUKIT MERTAJAM: Those who wish to avoid paying the Goods and Services Tax (GST) for medical treatment should just stick to government hospitals, said Deputy Finance Minister Datuk Ahmad Maslan.
Ahmad said this in response to a Facebook posting by Sepanggar MP Datuk Jumat Idris who complained about the tax.

He said government hospitals are fully equipped, but if people want to seek treatment at private hospitals then they have to pay for the service.

“He (Jumat) has to accept the charges in the bill,” Ahmad said when asked about the matter in a press conference after joining the Customs Department in an operation to check for GST compliance here.

Jumat's Facebook post attracted attention when he complained about the high amount of tax imposed on the medical treatment of his son who suffers from nerve pain and a crooked spine.
Commenting on price increases, Ahmad said this was not caused by GST, but was due to unscrupulous traders.
“The prices of basic necessities such as rice, flour, sugar, salt, meat, fish, cooking oil and gas should not be increased as they are GST-free,” he said.

In a related development, Bayan Baru MP Sim Tze Tzin said the Capital Gains Tax (CGT) should replace the GST.

He said the GST was a regressive tax and described the CGT as a widely accepted progressive tax.

“This is a reply to Ahmad who asked for an alternative to the GST,” he said in a statement today adding the CGT proposal was in Pakatan Rakyat's Budget 2015.