A fuel tax quietly introduced by the government is set to bring in over RM900 million in revenue, claimed Pandan MP Mohd Rafizi Ramli.

With the introduction of the goods and services tax (GST) starting today, Rafizi urged the government to scrap the tax on bulk purchases of petrol and diesel in order to keep the costs of running a business low.

“I think it is malicious to quietly tax the industry and then blame the industry for not bringing the prices down. At the end of the day, it burdens the people,” he told a press conference in the parliament building today.

According to a written parliamentary reply from Finance Minister Najib Abdul Razak to a question from Rafizi, the government has collected RM158 million in the bulk fuel tax in January and February this year.

“The industry and sectors affected include aviation, construction, mining, manufacturing, and logging,” Najib said.

Assuming that the tax and demand does not change, Rafizi said the government would collect over RM900 million by the end of the year.

On Jan 22, Rafizi ( above ) had held a press conference claiming the government had introduced the tax without making any announcement.

SMEs most affected

 

Quoting a leaked circular from the Treasury, he said the tax for January was 35.9 sen per litre for RON95 petrol, 52.5 sen per litre for RON97, and 30.6 sen per litre for diesel after a discount given by the government.

 

With the parliamentary reply from Najib today, Rafizi now claims that he has been vindicated and the tax does indeed exist.

 

Rafizi added that oil companies were notified of the tax every month through circulars and they then pass it on to the various industries that use the fuel.

 

These industries are barred form purchasing fuel through retail pumps and hence are forced to pay the higher retail price, he said.

 

The hardest hit would the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) because their factories would more likely use petrol and diesel to run their machinery whereas larger factories have the capital to invest in machines that run on natural gas, explained Rafizi.

 

“That means all factories and manufactured goods have been slapped with this tax on petrol and diesel, especially the SMEs,” he said.