On Monday (June 9), the government announced the revision on SST to boost revenue and strengthen the country’s finances. To ensure that the majority of citizens remain unaffected, the administration has promised that essential goods and services will not be taxed. But the SST document, which is over 222-pages and contains thousands of items, paints quite a different picture. Many people were shocked when they realized that imported fruits (even those that are produced locally) will be hit with the Sales Tax. For a better idea, Malaysia imports A LOT of fruits, including apples, oranges, starfruit, ciku, lemons, rambutans, jackfruit, longans, and papayas. These will all be taxed, as long as they are imported. This doesn’t even touch the more absurd things which the administration claims as non-essentials, such as salt, yogurt, fruit juices, butter and margarine, almost all cooking oils except palm oil, and almost all types of nuts except peanuts. On Sunday, I invited Hann Liew, founder of RinggitPlus and Halogen Capital, to break down the SST changes and how we can cope with price increases. TIMESTAMPS (01:41) General Impressions on SST Increase (06:08) A Lot Of Things Are Already Taxed (10:25) Why Taxing Imported Fruits Does Not Make Sense (14:24) How Soon Will We See Price Hikes? (17:49) Local Business Will Increase Prices As Well (24:12) Differences Between SST and GST (27:52) Why Not Tax Luxury Goods And The Rich? (32:30) How Can We Deal With Price Hikes? (39:03) What Should Lower Income Families Do? (43:22) RM1,000 to RM5,000 Excess Savings - What Should I Do? (46:46) Crypto Prices - How Are They Affected? (50:44) What Are The Benefits From The SST Increase? (01:01:42) One Piece Of Advice For All Malaysians Hann is a personal finance expert with over a decade of experience in the financial industry. Previously the CEO of RinggitPlus, he is qualified as a licensed financial planner (CFP) and a chartered financial analyst (CFA), and has helped tens of thousands of Malaysians on their path toward financial literacy. Hann is currently the founder of Halogen Capital, the world's first Shariah-compliant crypto fund that provides institutional exposure to Bitcoin. Hann's socials: https://x.com/ooihann Follow The Futurizts: https://linktr.ee/thefuturizts Join our WhatsApp group: https://futuriztsmembership.wasap.my/ DISCLAIMER: The information contained in this podcast is for informational and educational purposes only. Nothing herein shall be construed as financial, legal, or tax advice. The opinions expressed in this podcast are solely those of the speakers.
