I refer to the Malaysiakini report GST bill accords 'obnoxious' power to finance minister and especially the controversy of S. 10 (2)(a) of the Goods and Services Tax Bill, which you cite thus:

‘The minister may, by order published in the gazette, fix the rate of tax to be charged on the supply of goods or services or on the importation of goods’ and the subsequent paragraph providing the same minister similar powers to ‘vary or amend the rate of tax’.

I draw your attention to the existing limitation on the minister's powers, namely Article 96 of the federal constitution: ‘No tax or rate shall be levied by or for the purposes of the federation except by or under the authority of federal law,’ the intention of which is unambiguous - federal taxes are raised by federal laws, which are in turn the creations of Parliament and not orders gazetted by the minister.

Failure to comply with this provision will put the federal government in the interesting position of contravening its own constitution and without the authority of law, any tax raised in this manner must properly be deemed illegal.

Shall citizens then be morally bound not to pay an inescapable tax? There is sadly only one solution to this problem, and some of your readers have already alluded to the revolution in France.

There are also broader questions relating to the impact of GST on Malaysians. Some have cited increasing the tax base as a strong argument in support, while others have condemned its introduction in an economy that appears caught in the middle-income trap.

Ignoring the expected temporary rise in inflation and promises of either ‘savings’ or ‘neutral impact’ under the new regime, Malaysians ought to ask themselves three questions – the answers to which ought to prove illustrative:

First, how do you think GST will affect a suspiciously poor ‘high-income’ nation in which the majority of households (according to the government's own statistics as at June 2008) earns an average of RM3,686 a month?

Secondly, are you not concerned that public funding of the federal government is, at best, questionable in light of what appears to be long-term wholesale kleptomania in public administration?

Thirdly, why do you pay personal income tax (those of you that do, that is)?