NAJIB Razak said the Pakatan Harapan government’s decision to return the sales and services tax (SST) will increase the cost of living.

The Pekan MP said the the prices of goods have not dropped after Putrajaya moved to zero rate the goods and services tax (GST) in June.

“With SST prices will go up by 10% and 6%. It won’t be 16%... but 10% for goods and 6% for services.

“The end result will be a rise in the cost of living.

“The prices of goods has not really come down after GST was removed, and now you have SST on top of it, it will be a double whammy,” the former prime minister and finance minister told reporters at the Parliament lobby.

One of Pakatan Harapan’s manifesto pledges was to scrap the highly unpopular tax, which has been blamed for the sharp rise in prices of goods and services since its introduction in 2015 by Najib’s administration.

“Zero-rating GST or abolishing it will not bring any effect. More so with the addition of SST, the burden on the people will increase,” said Najib.

“It will not be achieved, what has been promised by the government (to reduce the cost of living).”

Earlier, the Pekan MP said Malaysia will lose as much as RM416.6 billion in state revenue if the GST, tolls, excise duties and repayment of the National Higher Education Fund loans are removed. – July 17, 2018.