Lim Guan Eng
KUALA LUMPUR: The pressure on house prices, industrial and commercial buildings is expected to ease off with the abolition of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) and exemption of some building materials from the Sales and Services Tax (SST), Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng said.
He said the federal government hoped that the construction costs could be reduced with the SST exemption on building materials such as cement, sand and iron.
“With the proposed exemption of goods from SST and the difference in GST implementation, I hope both the developers and the buyers can benefit from the reduction of this tax burden,” he said in a statement today.
During the GST regime, basic materials such as bricks, cement, sand and other construction materials were subjected to GST at six per cent. In addition, construction services were also subjected to six per cent GST.
This had led to increased construction costs under the GST era, including the rise in house prices, he said. – Bernama