Kota Kinabalu: The Agriculture and Fisheries Ministry will make a formal request to the Finance Ministry to have the State Sales Tax (SST) on fisheries supplies exported from Sabah postponed once more.
Its Minister Datuk Seri Dr Jeffrey Kitingan expressed sympathy for the sector operators, saying the Covid-19 situation has been constant since August last year.
“On this matter, I have not changed my mind. Unfortunately, the question of tax belongs within the Finance Ministry, not my ministry,” he said.
The SST was suspended from May to December last year, according to the Deputy Chief Minister, and the fishing business should not be asked to pay sales taxes.
“Last year, the issue of delaying the tax until the economy improves was extensively addressed with the Chief Minister, who is also the Finance Minister.
Both ministries agreed that it would be best to put the SST on fisheries commodity exports on hold for the time being.
“Because the economy hasn’t fully recovered,” he said.
“I’ll try again to persuade the Finance Ministry to rethink deferring the tax.”
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