Faculty of Accountancy and
Management lecturer Dr Yong Mun Ching was invited to be one of the
panellists at the 3rd Malaysia Tax Policy Forum 2022, held on 1 August 2022
at The Everly Hotel Putrajaya.
Themed
Reinforcing Malaysia’s Ultimate
Pecuniary Resilience, the 3rd Malaysia Tax Policy Forum 2022 was
organised by the International Strategy Institute. It aimed to gather all
best practices and innovative ideas from around the region on the issues of
taxation. It also sought to address some burning questions and formulate
strategic measures that can help Malaysia move forward as a financially
strong nation in the near future.
During the panel discussion, Dr
Yong, the founder and partner of Kevin Wu & Associates Kevin Wu and Dr
Francesco Cannas, a senior lecturer at Monash University discussed the
topic— Taxation - Are GST Tax Efficient Compared To SST? It was an
interesting topic for the participants, who were mainly comprised of tax
authorities from the Royal Malaysian Customs Department Malaysia and the
Inland Revenue Board, politicians and business taxpayers.
They explained that the Malaysian
government repealed the Goods and Services Tax (GST) and replaced it with
the Sales and Service Tax (SST), reforming the country’s tax structure in
2018. They further explained that the GST is mainly charged on
manufacturers, whilst the Service Tax is placed on customers who use tax
services. “SST rates are less transparent than GST rates, which are fixed at
6%. Only service industry and manufacturers are required to pay SST when
selling items to dealers; this is a single tax system,” they explained.
Among other sub-topics discussed
by the speakers were “Is GST more efficient than SST”, “Is SST nearing a
critical threshold in terms of supporting economic recovery, restoring
national resilience, and catalysing reforms?” and “Is there a better option
to replenish Malaysia's revenues in 2023?”.
Dr Yong, in her discussion,
suggested that GST should be introduced again, as it is able to solve the
problem of the “shadow economy” which is known as the informal economy and
effectively prevent tax evasion. She mentioned that the GST can be
effectively applied to the “shadow economy” because the supply chain is
tightly controlled and the authorities can trace back to the source of
goods, shipments, etc.
Also present at The 3rd Malaysia
Tax Policy Forum 2022 were YB Datuk Mohd Nizom Sairi, chief executive
officer and director general of Inland Revenue Board of Malaysia (LHDN);
Dato’ Seri Diraja Dr Zambry bin Abdul Kadir, the former chief minister of
Perak representing President of United Malays National Organisation (UMNO)
Dato’ Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid bin Hamidi; Puan Roszita binti Dim, deputy
director general of Customs Malaysia representing Director General of
Customs Malaysia Dato’ Haji Zazuli bin Johan; Abu Tariq bin Jamaluddin,
deputy CEO of Compliance, LHDN and Cheah Chyuan Yong, chairman of
International Strategy Institute (ISI).
Dr Yong was
presented with a token of appreciation for sharing her insights at the forum
Dr Yong was one of
the panellists invited to the forum
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