Would the National Fatwa Council be willing to come up with a fatwa (edict) on the government’s spending habits based on the Auditor-General’s Reports in the past 10 years?

PAS Ulama information chief Mohd Khairuddin Aman Razali said this in response to the fatwa council which had stated that it was harus (neither discouraged nor encouraged) for the government to collect the goods and services tax (GST) on several conditions, with the government in need of financial resources being one of them.

“If the country has financial problems, what needs to be investigated is how the government spends. As long as the government does not spend wisely, the country will never have enough financial resources, even if tax collected amounts to billions of ringgit,” Khairuddin said in a statement last night.

“Again, I ask that the fatwa (on the GST) be reviewed carefully.”

Khairuddin ( left ) also stressed that the tax system was against the conditions of the need for taxes in Islam.

“This is because taxes cannot be imposed on the poor,” he said.

Urging the government to revoke the implementation of GST as it was a form of cruelty, Khairuddin said this is especially since it is imposed on the poor.

“It only invites the prayers of those who are burdened by financial problems,” he said.

The Kuala Nerus MP added that a condition which permits tax collection is that it is only imposed on the rich for the benefit of the poor.

However, citing a hadith (deeds and sayings of Prophet Muhammad), Khairuddin pointed our that one cannot simply take the wealth of the rich.

“The rich pay zakat (tithe). But you cannot simply take their wealth through unnecessary taxes,” he said.

He also believes that the country did not need the GST as the rakyat already paid through other taxes.

“Does the country really need the GST? The rakyat are already burdened with corporate and income taxes, and we also have resources such as petroleum; these are all enough to cover the country’s expenses,” he said.

The GST, which was implemented on April 1, had received complaints from various quarters. Attacks on social media against Deputy Finance Minister Ahmad Maslan, who has been the government’s ‘face’ in relation to the tax system, showed that many are disgruntled over its implementation.