Sri Lanka should once again introduce the Capital Gain Tax to gain additional revenue to government coffers Plantations Minister Naveen Dissanayake said.
Speaking to the Daily News Business the Minister said that this was last implemented in 1987 and since then it was abandoned.
“The government needs additional funds for development and I think the corporate sector can give more by way of Capital Gain Tax as done previously. The country situation is very much better than 1987 today with better social and economic conditions. Hence as responsible citizens one can give back more to the country.”
The International Monetary Fund too said that urgent measures should be adopted to increase government revenue and this is expected to be one measure towards this. Meanwhile commenting on the tea industry he said it is not doing well. “One major reason for this is global downturn and also political and terrorism problems the some of the Sri Lankan tea buying countries are suffering.”
However we have seen a silver lining with the Iranian sanctions being lifted and this would once again help to boost the industry. “The official payment line to Iran is yet to be cleared after the sanctions and once this is being done it would bring about some relief.”
Dissanayake however said that the ‘low growns’ will still not be out of the woods since their main buyers like Egypt and Turkey are still have political issues.”
An incentive package for the low growns are now being urgently put in place by the government.
He also said that bad management and neglecting of the tea bushes has led to a major financial loss at both Janatha Estates Development Board (JEDB) and State Plantations Corporation. (SLSPC) “We estimate this to be in the excess of Rs. 500 million and this is another burden to the government.”
One the positive side the Minister noted that the Tea Research Institute (TRI) has come out with some innovative products which would add value to tea.
“One such product is Tea Wine and the TRI is now in the process of formulating a marketing plan for this.”
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