1.The government has come out with a list of goods whereby retail prices would decrease when GST is implemented, as sales and service tax (SST) will be replaced with GST. When is this expected to happen?

2.Will 10 percent of SST be scrapped when the 6 percent of GST comes into effect on April 1?

3.Do companies that make RM 500,000 last year, but do not to make as much the following year, need to register and collect GST?

4. What about companies which are at the border line? What should they do and how does the government plan to solve this issue so that it is fair to them and the consumers?

5. Is it logical for companies with revenue on the borderline to register themselves and collect GST. If their returns do not exceed RM 500,000, what should they do?6. Why did the government reduce corporate tax percentage from 25 to 24 percent, as that’s the government main source of income, only to charge six percent GST?

7. Will the minimum wage be increased so wage earners can cover the extra cost of GST? How much will the increase be?

8. Why is there a need to expand the list of goods and services for GST, when the same list for goods and services charged the sales and service tax can be used?

9. What mechanism will the government use in order to control price increase due to GST?

10. Why are daily goods such as sardines charged a six percent of GST, whereas lobsters are GST exempted?

11. Please explain how will GST revenue be used for the public?

12. The World Bank said consumption tax like GST is regressive and will bring adverse effect to the poor. Given this, why did the government choose to implement GST?

13. 17,000 firms are still in the GST registration waiting-list. This is a huge number to be dealt with especially when GST implementation is only two weeks away. How is the government going to handle this?

14. If the government is going to impose punishment and fines on business owners who fail to register themselves. Wouldn’t this make them invest in other countries?

15. Why did the government decrease the rate for corporate tax when businesses in Malaysia are stable and highly profitable?

16. According to the Auditor General’s Report this year, the government experienced financial losses due to leakages. How will the government ensure that this will not happen with the fund collected from GST?

17.Do the royal families need to pay GST?

18. Traders will be inclined to hoard goods, and this will cause a lack of supply before the GST implementation. What will the government do to avoid this?

19. Will the government set up a committee to monitor and control management of GST revenue so as to avoid wastage like the KLIA2 project, which first cost RM1.5 billion but finally cost RM 4.5 billion?

20. The 2006 Malaysia National Health Policy states that all kinds of medicines are tax-exempted to ensure that patients have access to medicine. However, this is in contrary to the current situation where medicines are not GST-exempted. Why is this so?

21. Will GST levied on house purchases? What about low cost homes?

22. Will credit card usage incur GST?

23. Does it mean that consumers can need to pay GST everytime they use their credit card, on top of the 6 percent they are paying on the goods and services they purchased?

24. Would ATM withdrawals incur GST? How is the 6 percent calculated?

25. Would petrol and diesel incur GST?

26. Would GST be levied on natural gas (LPG)?

27. Would pawn services incur GST?

28. Will GST be incurred on home loans and car loans?

29. Can we assume that goods which are not listed in the GST guide will not incur GST?

30. The government says GST will not be lieved on zero-rated items. How does the government choose which item is zero-rated or GST exempt? What was the research behind it?

31. Will private healthcare services incur GST? What are the exemptions, if any?

32. Will GST be levied on private education? What are the exemptions if any?

33. Who will benefit the most from GST? Who will incur the most losses from GST?

34.Why is GST levied on not-for-profit organisations when they are not commercial entities?

35. Charities and international agencies are tax-exempt. Does it mean they do not have to pay GST?

36. Has any country which implements GST been able to reduce its income gap?

37.Please explain the short term benefit of the GST for a household earning less than RM3,000 a month.

38. How long would it take for suppliers, wholesalers and retailers to receive their returns claimed on GST paid on input?

39. What is the government’s strategy in ensuring that traders will charge reasonable prices, while waiting for their GST returns?

40. The economy is driven by local consumption, and this will be adversely affected by the GST. Does this mean that we should brace for economic slowdown? What is the government’s strategy to grow purchasing power?

41. A company which makes less than RM500,000 a year does not need to register with the Customs Department or pay GST. What happens if the goods it buys as input comes from a company which makes more than RM500,000 a year and pays GST?

42.Will the same goods be GST-exempt if it is sold to a company which does not pay GST?

43. What is the rate of inflation now and what is projected inflation after April 1, 2015? Has the government made this forecast?

44. Why did the government set GST at 6 percent? Why wasn’t it set at a lower rate?

45. Are purchases by the government and government-linked companies also levied GST?

46. To comply with the GST regime, all sales and purchases must be recorded while all receipts and invoices must be kept by businesses. What happens if transactions are not recorded? Would GST encourage the black market? How will the government curb this?

47. Statistics show that personal income (wages) only make up 30 percent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), much lower than high-income nations who implement the GST. Statistics also show that wages in Malaysia has largely remained the same since the 1970s. What then is the rationale for implementing the GST now.

48. Are the following groups exempt from GST – the disabled; senior citizens; the unemployed; and the hardcore poor?

49. Will the government reveal the GST account to the rakyat in a transparent manner, if yes, how?

50. What guarantee can the government give that GST collection that it will not be abused? Please explain the mechanism.

51.The government and Bank Negara Malaysia have admitted that there will be a temporary price hike following the implementation of the GST. Except for the recent (temporary) petrol price drop, prices of goods and service in Malaysia never go down after going up. How will the government control prices to ensure the post-GST hike is only temporary, given the government’s dismal record of price controls?

52. Will ministers pay GST given that they are already heavily subsidised by taxpayers?

53. Why is the government buying a new jet costing RM465 million, in installments of RM2.2 million a year for 15 years, when it is having financial difficulties? Why is it still being spendthrift when it is implementing the GST which is a burden to the people?

54. Only life insurance is GST exempt. What about personal accident, critical illness and health insurance?

55. Why did public transport fare go up by 23 to 67 percent, when the government said it should go down after GST replaces sales and service tax?

56. The value of ringgit has plunged compared to other Asean currencies. This means import goods will also cost more, including basic food items which Malaysia imports. How will the government control prices after GST?

57. Business owners have asked for GST to be postponed. Will the government consider this given that they drive the local economy?

58.The Customs Department has been labeled as one of the most corrupt government department. How can the government trust the department to collect GST?

59. The government has announced that RM250 million was used to educate the people on GST. How much more is spent to implement it?

60. The government cannot implement the GST without a ready control and audit mechanism, but we do not have that. Imagine the amount of corruption and under-table payments which government auditors could be offered. How will avoid this?

61. Most retailers do not record their transactions. How will the government implement the GST when most retailers deal in cash transactions and do not issue invoices or have data systems? The GST will be a nightmare because they have no auditing system and do not keep proper records. Why then do we need GST?

62. 7 percent of government income comes from sales tax. Considering the overhead cost of implementing the GST, wouldn’t it be more efficient to just raise sales tax to 7 percent and bump up income tax instead of introducing GST?

63. An item is GST exempt, but the retailer charged me GST. What can I do? How do I get my money back?

64.How many companies which earn more than RM500,000 will shut down after GST?

65. Will parliamentarians’ wages go up in line with GST?

66. Will GST be levied for items for religious items like holy books and religious paraphernalia?

67. Will LRT and Komuter fares incur GST?

68. Will the maintenance cost for low cost flats be GST-exempt?

69. Will GST be levied on school bus fares?

70. Can the government raise GST rates at any time? What is the criteria for raising GST rates?

71. How will the government determine GST for new goods and services?

72. Will GST be levied for entrance fees for public toilets?

73. Will GST be levied on school uniforms?

74. Will GST be levied on stationaries used at school?

75. Given that we want to have an IT-savvy society, will GST be levied on computers?

76. Many countries which implement the GST, like the Nordic countries, provide free education and healthcare and an efficient public transport system at affordable rates. Does Malaysia have similar plans?

77. Many have started hoarding food to brace for GST, and this has caused inflation to go up. How is the government handling this?

78. The government uses Bantuan Rakyat 1Malaysia to help the poor. Can we cancel the BR1M so we, including the poor, don’t have to pay GST to pay for it?

79. Business with internal auditors can better bear the cost compared to small businesses which do not. How will the government help small businesses which have to bear the extra administration costs?

80. Since many food items are zero-rated, does it mean there will be no hike in food prices?

81. Will the government compensate businesses if returns for GST claims are delayed to ensure that businesses will not pass on the cost to consumers?

82. To-date, how many customs officers are ready for the implementation of the ST and how many more government officers will be hired to control prices? What is the additional cost to the government?

83. Rice is GST-exempt but production costs like transportation is not. Wouldn’t this mean that rice prices will go up?

84. The zakat system taxes the rich to help the poor, while GST is the opposite. GST is introduced at six percent for all while corporate tax is slashed by one percent and sales tax on luxury items removed. Isn’t this against the zakat system and therefore forbidden in Islam?

85. Will highway tolls incur GST? Will Touch and Go reloads incur GST? Will the GST be levied on parking rates?

86. Will GST be levied on tuition classes?

87. Will GST be levied on regular car servicing?

88. Some businesses have advertised that they will absorb the GST. Is this legal and doesn’t go against the spirit of GST?

89. Two Umno leaders, former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad and former finance minister Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah have spoken against the GST, citing people’s suffering. Doesn’t the government care about what they think?

90. Will haircuts incur GST?

91. Will items considered common food for the poor like canned sardines and instant noodles incur GST?

92. The government has a list of 1000 goods and services commonly used by the people. Can we see that list? Does it take into account differences in prices between goods and services in Peninsular Malaysia and Sabah and Sarawak, urban and rural areas, east coast and west coast and so on?

93. How can you monitor for profiteering if you don’t know the basic price of goods?

94. Will the Customs Department measure the price difference on the 1000 goods after April 1, 2015? Why the need to remove sale and services tax, and then zero-rate input goods but add six percent GST on final products?

95. Could you please give us the list of prices of 1000 commonly purchased items for Kuala Lumpur and Petaling Jaya before and after GST? Business owners will raise prices if they are left to their own devices.

96. Will you monitor all 350,000 business registered under the GST regime? What about the one million small businesses which are likely to use GST as a reason to raise prices?

97. How many customs officers will be tasked to monitor prices for all 1.35 million premises in this country?

98. Where can the public complain if they suspect custom officers are taking bribes from traders?Will all enforcement officers wear name tags?

99. How many hours a week will be taken to input all the data required for GST into the computer, if a business makes a profit of RM50,000 a month?

100. What is the weekly cost for someone who is not IT savvy and requires assistance to input the data for GST?

101. The Customs Department always says that rice is zero-rated. Does it mean that rice farmers can claim back money spent on fertilisers and pesticides? How will they do so, given that they are smallholders will little income and are not registered with the Customs Department under the GST regime?

102. Does it mean that farmers will not be able to claim back GST paid on input goods and services? This is because the price of rice bought by factories is set by the government. If this price is not raised, then farmers will suffer from a cut in their earnings. If the price of raw rice bought by factories is raised, does it mean consumers will also pay more?

103. Can rice processing factories claim back input costs like electricity, spare parts for machinery and plastic for packaging, given that rice is zero-rated? If not, does it mean that their costs will rise and they will pass this to end consumers?

104. Will transport companies charge GST for the journey between factories and wholesalers? Will the wholesaler be able to claim back the GST paid as input costs?

105. Will medicines be zero-rated? For example medications like superazone (an antibiotics for serious infections), simvastatin (to reduce cholesterol) and anti-HIV medication.

106. Many private doctors rent space for their clinic in private hospitals. Will hospitals charge GST on the rent? What about the hospital services hired by the doctor, like X-ray and other tests? Will the GST be levied on these services?