PSM is appealing to Putrajaya to review taxes imposed on food items which it said are staples for those in the bottom 40 percent of society.

Party secretary-general A Sivarajan said under the sales and service tax (SST), basic food items such as dried or salted fish, canned chicken and meat curries, and biscuits will be taxed five percent, while shrimps, crabs and cuttlefish will be taxed 10 percent.

"These are certainly not luxury food items consumed by the rich, but are common daily foodstuffs relied on by the B40 families.

"PSM urges that general consumer goods that make up the basic basket of items for working-class families should be exempted from any kind of tax," Sivarajan said in a statement.

Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng has clarified that dried and salted fish and shrimp are not taxed under the SST.

He also said earlier today that the government will review the list of taxed items by year-end.

Sivarajan fears, however, that there will be a wave of price increases in coming months, and that a year-end review would not cause these prices to come down.

The SST came into effect yesterday, replacing the GST which was implemented under the previous BN government.