almost a week after the Goods and Services Tax (GST) was implemented on April 1, it is time to stop the debates and arguments over its introduction. We have to accept that for better or for worse, GST is here to stay and we should direct our attention to adapting to its implementation and keeping an eye on those who exploit the new tax to raise prices of their goods and services indiscriminately.
Business operators in the state should be commended for accepting GST, willingly or otherwise, by registering for the tax and trying to adapt to the new system.
So far almost 24,000 companies have registered for GST which is twice the number the Customs Department targeted in this initial period.
Alas, the surprisingly good response to the registration exercise inadvertently created an embarrassing problem for the government in implementing the tax. Apparently, when the government announced a RM1,000 subsidy for business operators who install the GST software into their cash registers the planners did not legislate for such a huge response.
Now many business operators are crying foul that they could not get their subsidies because the Customs Department admitted it had run out of fund and had to stop payments.
Inevitably, this boo-boo provided fodder for the opposition to fire a broadside on the government.
Politics aside, this miscalculation reflects badly on the agencies and departments entrusted to implement the GST.
The insufficient funds set aside for the GST software subsidy is just one of several problems that cropped up since the imposition of GST that could have been avoided with better foresight and planning.
Among them is the inability of software programming companies to cope with the demand by companies waiting to install the GST programme in their machines for their cashiers to tabulate the tax for the goods sold.
While we are always wiser after the event, it is disappointing that these foreseeable problems were not taken into account by the planners in enforcing GST.
With many business operators in a lurch, the Federation of Kuching Samarahan Divisions Chinese Association rightly appealed for more time for the business community to unravel the problems they are tangled in trying to adhere to the new tax system.
The Customs Department and other enforcement agencies should give business operators a reasonable grace period to be fully equipped to charge GST before throwing the book at them for not complying with the new law.
For the time being, they should train their sights on unscrupulous business operators who took advantage of the GST to raise prices of their goods and services even though they had not registered for the new tax.
Among the worst culprits are coffee shops and food outlets owners who raised their prices citing GST as the excuse when many of the ingredients they use are exempted and they have not registered for the tax.
Consumers must play their part in bringing these errant business operators to book by reporting them to the relevant authorities while more efforts must be made to make the public aware when they are being charged unfairly.When changes were implemented, a period of adjustments leading to confusion is expected, the challenge facing the authorities now is to get over these teething problems as soon as possible.