Tax revision proves govt. is in crisis: JVP

The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) alleged yesterday that the government’s proposed tax revision clearly indicated that the government faced a crisis and that the revision would adversely affect the lives of the ordinary people.

JVP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake said that the government had been unable to present a budget without making so many amendments to it within three months.

He said the proposal to increase VAT to 15 % would definitely result in the increase in in cost of all goods and services in the country, and added that people would have to pay more for health care and education due to the removal of tax concessions granted to the private sector.

Mr. Dissanayake said the revision of the Nation Building Tax (NBT) would badly affect small scale businessmen as the ceiling had been lowered to a turnover of Rs. 3 million from Rs. 3.75 million.

He said Prime Minister Wickremesinghe’s assertion that the tax revision was introduced because the loans obtained by the previous government were not included in the budget presented by the government was a complete lie and that it was an attempt to justify this new tax revision.

Mr. Dissanayake said the government's request for IMF support to trace the loans taken by the previous government was a joke as they had given it all the details regarding undeclared loans taken by the previous government.

“If the government wants to find about the loans, it can find it out easily through the ministers who were in charge of government institutions such as SriLankan Airlines, the CTB and the Urban Development Authority. No special teams from the IMF are needed for this purpose,” he said.(Ajith Siriwardana)

Video by Janaka