A study of Seremban's citizens readiness towards the implementation of Goods and Services Tax (GST) based on demographic factors / Fatin Nabilah Salih and Fatin Thauraya Mohd Nasir

In late 1980s Prime Minister Brian Mulroney's government pursues sales tax reform, saying it wants to replace the manufacturers' sales tax with the goods and services tax (GST). Therefore, the tax is introduced in Canada on January 1, 1991. (www.thestar.com). GST which is also known as VAT or the value added tax in many countries is a multi-stage consumption tax on goods and services. It is a form of indirect tax whereby consumers pay taxes as they consume goods and services. The tax is embedded in the price of goods and services transacted. GST therefore is tax charge based on how much you spend. This is different from Income Tax whereby tax is charged based on how much you eam."0ver the past few decades, the worldwide trend has been for the introduction of a multi-stage GST system. Today, almost 90% of the world's populations live in countries with GST, including China, Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore and India. In Malaysia the history of GST originally planned during Budget 2005 by former Prime Minister Dato Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, announced that GST would be implemented on 1st January 2007. The rate of GST will be imposing at 4%.The introduction of the new tax will provide the Government with the opportunity to reduce corporate and individual income tax rates. The Government will also ensure that the citizen in the low-income group will not be unduly burdened by the implementation of GST. In this regard, goods and services considered as basic needs will either be zero- rated or exempted. In addition, small businesses will also be exempted from this tax.