PETALING JAYA: PAS has urged voters to vote for its candidate Dr Halimah Ali (pic) as a sign of protest against the implementation of the Sales and Service Tax (SST) by the Pakatan Harapan government.

The implementation of the SST will burden the people, as it failed to address the rising prices of goods and the cost of living, said PAS information chief Nasrudin Hassan.

“The government’s intervention on the market by using the mechanism of consumption tax will only hit the people,” he said in a statement yesterday.

Nasrudin claimed that the sales tax, which is set between five to 10% on producers, will bring about a compounding effect on consumer prices.

“The same goes for the 6% service tax, it will burden the people, just like the Goods and Services Tax (GST).”

Nasrudin claimed that under SST, consumers were likely to be taxed twice or thrice for services at eateries because certain hotels and restaurants impose a 10% service charge.

Drawing a comparison to PAS, he claimed the Islamist party is proposing for an alternative taxation system that would impose a rate of 2.5% to only top income earners.

Meanwhile, at a separate press conference, Pakatan’s Halimey Abu Bakar said the internal conflict brewing in the ongoing PKR polls will not affect preparations ahead of the Seri Setia polls on Sept 8.

“Our machinery is in place and we are working towards ensuring victory,” he told a press conference at Pakatan’s operations centre in Kelana Jaya yesterday.

Halimey was asked to comment on speculation over PKR’s internal rivalry involving the factions of Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali and Rafizi Ramli.

However, when pressed for more information on the polls rivalry, the former Petaling Jaya councillor refused to elaborate.

Azmin, who’s the Economic Affairs Minister, is set to cross swords with Rafizi for the deputy presidency post in the ongoing party polls that are expected to conclude in November.

Dr Halimah, a former two-term Selat Kelang assemblyman, will take on first-time candidate Halimey in the Seri Setia polls, which will run concurrently with the Balakong polls on Sept 8.

In GE14, Pakatan won a four-cornered fight in Seri Setia with its candidate Prof Dr Shaharuddin Badaruddin getting a 19,732-vote majority against Barisan Nasional’s Datuk Yusoff HM Haniff (9,878 votes), PAS’ Mohd Ghazali Daud (4,563 votes) and independent candidate Dr S. Vignes (217 votes).