THE newly implemented departure levy will not be subject to review, Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng said today.

He also dismissed talk that the government would be reintroducing the goods and services tax to refill its depleting coffers.

“No, the departure levy has just been implemented. This is a decision that was made under the last budget and we have implemented it beginning September 1, together with the reduction of the passenger service charge (PSC) in all airports except KLIA,” he said, on whether the levy would be reviewed.

Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad had said last month that Putrajaya might take another look at the structure of the levy.

“We are studying this, obviously if they (airlines) are charging passengers low fares, and the government charges such passengers the same exit tax as those in high end flights, it is not fair,” he had said.

Departure levy is RM8 for economy class passengers and RM50 for business and first class passengers flying from Malaysia to Asean countries.

For international flights, the levy is RM20 for those flying economy and RM150 for those traveling in the premium classes.

At the same time, the PSC was reduced from RM73 to RM50 for travellers departing for international destinations from all airports except the main KLIA’ terminal.

The new PSC is effective October 1.

The fee for flight passengers to Asean and domestic destinations remains at RM35 and RM11, respectively.

Lim today said the government would not be bringing back the GST which was scrapped last year.

“We have already abolished the GST so there are no plans to bring it back,” he told reporters in 1Utama Shopping Centre.

TheSun today reported that Pakatan Harapan and Barisan Nasional leaders have backed economists’ call to reimplement the GST to boost the economy.

The government collected RM44 billion from the GST in 2017. This year’s revenue from the sales and services tax that supplanted the GST is expected to reach RM22 billion. – September 13, 2019.