 In addition, the experience of other countries have shown that exempting or reducing GST on certain items did not mean that tax savings would be passed on to consumers.Therefore, the GST should be kept broad-based to keep the GST low and the GST system simple, while help is directly provided to the lower-income through transfers and subsidies.In addition, the government has been absorbing GST in full for all subsidised patients in public hospitals and polyclinics since the GST was introduced in 1994.