Why am I charged SST if I am a consumer, asks Najib

PETALING JAYA - Former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak has hit out at Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng's remarks dismissing concerns over the Sales and Service Tax (SST) charged at a shop selling steamed buns or "pau".

In a Facebook post on Tuesday (Sept 11), Najib showed a picture of his receipt from the pau shop and questioned why he had been charged SST when he is a consumer.

"Didn't Guan Eng say a few times that the SST would only be imposed upon manufacturers and not consumers?

"I'm not a manufacturer, so why I am being charged the 6 per cent tax?" he said.

Najib also questioned why the government had changed tax systems since Lim had reportedly said pau had been previously imposed with a 6 per cent Goods and Services Tax (GST) rate, which is the same as the 6 per cent SST rate.

"My question is this: if it is the same, why do we need to change to a different tax system, seeing that when the GST was abolished, the prices of goods did not go down?" he said.

He added that according to the receipt from the pau shop, he was also charged a 6 per cent tax rate for his drink.

"I drank iced lemon tea there. According to the latest SST guide, the sales tax for iced lemon tea is 10 per cent which means that when the shop buys iced lemon tea from the factory, the 10 per cent tax should already have been included in the price," he said.

Najib said he paid a total of 16 per cent in taxes, which is higher than the GST 6 per cent rate.

In a post on his Twitter account on Sunday (Sept 9), he lamented that the "kuih pau" or steamed buns he bought from a shop in Tanjong Malim was charged SST.

He also uploaded the receipt he received from the restaurant, which showed the SST amount of RM3.80 (S$1.30).

Lim then lambasted the tweet, saying that Najib had not complained when the Barisan Nasional government implemented the GST.