MCA young professionals bureau chief Chua Tee Yong has blasted Pakatan Rakyat for coming up with unverified figures to claim that the goods and services tax (GST) will be bad even though no details had yet to be revealed.

“We don’t even know the GST rate or what items will be exempted from the tax yet,” he said when contacted.

He was responding to Bukit Mertajam MP Steven Sim who quoted a Penang Institute survey which showed that low and middle income households will be worst-hit if GST is implemented.

Earlier, Sim had debunked Chua’s claim that the GST can help redistribute wealth to the poor.

Sim added that the RM28 billion a year lost to mismanagement and corruption was much more than the RM7.5 billion per year that the GST can generate.

Chua said curbing wastage and corruption was already an ongoing effort, while GST can help curb tax evasion.

“They (Pakatan) are advocating better compliance (to tax law) but some 140 countries end up with GST is because they can’t get the best compliance system,” he said.

He pointed out a successful example like Singapore, where 75 percent of GST is paid by the country’s 25 percent top earners.

Chua concurred that the poor and middle class must be protected if the GST is implemented, but until more information comes to light, Sim should stop “shooting from the hip”.

The GST is widely speculated to be announced in Budget 2014 due to be tabled today.