Yoursay: Wrong to compare India’s GST with Malaysia’s

MIC leader gives GST critics an ‘India’ punch

Vgeorgemy: MIC treasurer-general S Vell Paari, India’s GST and ours have been implemented in entirely different economic situations.

In India, prior to GST, each state and union territory acted as separate customs territories. Each state has its own check-posts for the collection of taxes. India is a union of 28 states and seven territories. So they have the equivalent of tax collection from 35 countries.

The manufacturer or trader needs to pay necessary taxes at each border area of the states before the product reaches the market, thus costing more given the taxes and waiting costs at the borders.

By introducing GST in India, the tax is now collected at the selling points which resulted in the removal of check-posts within India and paying only 18 percent tax for consumer items. Previously it was much more than 18 percent, almost 100 percent in some cases, if you count waiting cost at the state borders.

Indian consumers have saved substantially as India become one market by the introduction of GST. So we need to have a different model to compare our GST.

Still, Indians consider GST to be a disruptive reform due to its complicated implementation. India is currently facing serious issues with the implementation of GST, especially in the refund process, which in turn worsens the cash flow of small and medium-scale business entrepreneurs. This has affected India’s economic growth rate.

We should compare our GST with Singapore. Singapore started its GST on April 1, 1994 at the rate of 3 percent; it was then increased to 4 percent from Jan 1, 2003, 5 percent from Jan 1, 2004 and 7 percent from July 1, 2007.

Singapore also undertook substantial reform in direct tax rates, namely personal income tax and corporate income tax rates to mitigate disruption to the economy.

We should have taken the path of Singapore in implementing GST gradually. In our case, the sudden decrease in oil prices forced us to implement GST at a higher rate which is inflationary in character.

Prudent: Moody ratings? Malaysiakini readers, please just google “India GST” and get the expert’s lowdown on the subject.

Basically, it’s the same issue as Malaysia. GST took a chunk out of the purchasing power of consumers and failed to replace them fully with tax cuts and increased employment using investments.

Many businesses shut down in India, as they did in Malaysia. The Indian economy suffered a drastic slowdown from about 7 percent growth to 5.7 percent. Farmers are committing suicide in India.

Businesses are closing down in Malaysia. I don’t know how they can arrive at 6.2 percent growth rate in Malaysia despite the visible evidence to the contrary.

GST is good as a concept, but when badly implemented as it has been in Malaysia and India, it will create economic hell, especially for the poor.

Anonymous 2427581476397692: Vell Paari says, “Our growth was at an impressive rate of 6.2 percent (in the) last quarter.”

As far as I know, the growth has been at 4 percent for the last 30 years but public borrowing has grown more than 20 percent in the last 10 years.

India’s problem was a cash economy and it has nothing to put in the coffers. Malaysia’s problem is corruption and cronies.

No action against MBPP officers in tyre clamp case, mayor says

Vijay47: The Penang Island City Council (MBPP) officers were obviously carrying out their duty in clamping the tyre. Technically. The car did not have an OKU (disabled) sticker and was parked in a bay reserved for disabled persons.

But car owner Ooi Chee Lin was not there on her own, her wheelchair-bound mother was right there with her and the officers should have displayed some compassion in accordance with the spirit of issuing OKU stickers.

Would that open up some floodgates of people misusing such bays? No, as long as the disabled person is present.

Sometimes in cases such as these, a bit more sensitiveness would go a long way in resolving unpleasant situations.

Anonymous 19811504508400: The officers were right to clamp the car which did not have the OKU sticker.

However, they were not right when they refused to remove the clamp when it was obvious that an invalid was using that car. They should have removed the clamp and told the driver that the fine would still need to be paid for not having a sticker.

The officers should be more people-friendly. The situation would have been very different if there was no wheelchair – then the officers would have really done their job.

Awang Top: It would a gross injustice to punish officers who diligently did their job. The woman should just pay the fine and move on. MBPP mayor Maimunah Sharif has already exercise compassion on her case.

Wira: Maimunah, you are doing the right thing. So are your officers.

In future, tell them it’s not necessary to argue. Just explain the by-laws of the city council and if the complainant disagrees, give him or her a card with the phone number of the officer in charge. They must be firm and not lose their cool.

Anonymous 2424901494055879: I think the officers should stick to standard operating procedures if there are any.

Compassion can be displayed or shown at a higher level, such as not waiving the summons but paying on her behalf.

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