Friday, May 15, 2015

How 6% GST on prepaid phone card shows our government still favours the big boys

Before: 6% SST was included in those prepaid cards which meant the telcos paid over to the government, 57 sen for every Rm10 sold (6/106 x 10) and the public got Rm10 worth of calls. Was that correct? Why do I get the nagging feeling that we actually got Rm9.43 worth of call instead of Rm10? This especially so with the current statements and corrections which seem to confuse the public, but at the end, the aim is to shift burden to the public.

This is because the relevant ministry seems to make a big deal now that we will be getting Rm10 for every Rm10 paid.

When GST came into effect on April 1, 2015, the burden was conveniently pushed from the telcos to the public: Rm10 prepaid costs Rm10.60. There was understandably public outcry over this. Then Deputy Minister, Ahmad Maslan said it would be for only 1 month and the situation will be reversed back to the old system of having telcos absorbing the GST (used to be SST). Then even PM had to intervened and declared that only the Minister can make public statements on this.

Basically, whether the Rm10 prepaid included GST or is worth Rm10 of calls, the burden will be shifted to the public and this has been confirmed by the Minister.  In other words, either we had been getting only Rm9.43 worth of calls before (even though we appeared to get Rm10 worth) or we are still getting the same Rm9.43 despite the claim that we are getting Rm10 worth for every Rm10 paid. Otherwise, it is impossible that the telcos could shift the burden and yet able to provide the full Rm10 worth, unless there is some adjustment to the rate of charges.

Now I am not even sure if this headline allegedly based on what Minister Shabery Cheek said, 'Prepaid mobile credit - GST free unless you call' is genuine, coming from a site Fake Malaysia News. Honestly, I cannot keep up with checking everything as to whether it is real or fake.
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