SHAH ALAM, 17 Nov: The tax exemption of the goods and services tax (GST), which is limited to only a few books, clearly confuses the public and will affect students if it is implemented.
A survey by Selangor Kini around Shah Alam found that most of the students met expresses unhappiness and do not agree if the selected exemption is made on the purchase of academic books.
Student Izzul Ikram Anwar, 23, said that students will be most severely affected if the GST is enforced on the purchase of books starting next year.
Izzul who will be pursuing his degree next year feels that the move is unfair.
He said that it would burden students, including parents who have to spend more to finance the purchase of their children’s books.
“All these kind of books should be exempt from the GST because it will definitely burden students who require large expenditures to further their studies.
“Academic books are also sold at high prices in the market, so when coupled with the GST, the price of the book will increase and it will affect our expenses as students” he said.
A private college student, Sharifah Munirah Tuan Syed Karami, 22, is of the opinion that it is not right if the central government remains adamant to impose the GST on the sale of books in the market.
She said that the increasing cost of living coupled with the price hike will affect her daily expenses, which is rather limited as a student.
“The monthly pocket money I receive from my parents are rather limited and only enough to cover the expenses of my daily food and drink.
“If coupled with the GST on books, I will definitely feel it because the book vouchers given by the government itself is not great in value, only enough to but two to three books only,” she said.
Her statement was also supported by Nur’amirah Mohd Fauzy, 23, who is of the opinion that the central government should look for other alternatives if they insist on imposing the GST on the purchase of books next year.
“If we only depend on the RM250 book vouchers, it is certainly not enough. So, I hope that the government will be more sensitive by increasing provisions for the purchase of books or do not impose the GST altogether because it affects students,” she said.
The central government should exclude GST on books and not limit it only to text books, exercise books, dictionaries and children’s books.
The Member of Parliament for Lembah Pantai, Nurul Izzah Anwar, said that the exemption confuses the public and it is open to abuse as a result of the confusion on classification.
NS