KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 10 ― The government is not exploring a tax specifically on wealthy Malaysians, Deputy Finance Minister II Shahar Abdullah told the Dewan Rakyat today.

Shahar was responding to Wong Shu Qi (PH-Kluang) who asked if the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government would implement this or reintroduce the Goods and Services Tax (GST) to increase federal revenue.

"For your information, on wealth tax, the government has no plans at all to implement it for now,” he said.

Shahar also indicated that the PN government has not written off bringing back the unpopular GST.

"For your information, the government is examining the suitability of reintroducing GST or any taxation models, by taking into concern all aspects, including weaknesses of the Sales and Service Tax (SST) now, and the GST which was implemented in 2015,” he said.

He added that the new taxation system must be easy to be managed and not burdensome on businesses, and is able to strengthen the country’s fiscal position.

The GST was introduced by the Barisan Nasional government when Datuk Seri Najib Razak was prime minister.

The 6 per cent consumption tax was abolished when Pakatan Harapan came to power in May 2018 and replaced with the SST in September that same year.