The new tax policy that was introduced recently will act as the ‘saviour’ to the nation, said President Ranil Wickremesinghe addressing a business forum in Colombo yesterday.
He said that if the new taxes were not introduced there would have been no other way to bridge the huge budget deficit which was enlarging year by year. “By introducing the new tax structure the government will be able to amass the much needed revenue to usher economic benefits to people.” The President said that the new tax may be unpleasant for some, especially for people in the urban areas but it was a necessity at this present juncture. Otherwise people will have to go back to last year’s scenario without fuel and long power cuts.”
He also recalled that the then government in 2019 lowered the tax structure and this resulted in the government revenue dropping by huge margins. “So now I am left with no other alternative other than to take unpopular decisions and re-introduce a new tax policy.”
Wickremesinghe said that many are opposing the current tax policy and challenged them to spell out if there is another alternative. “If we don’t do these reforms soon we will have to go to the era where people had to stock fuel in their garages again.”
Today due to sound economic management the government was able to provide fertilizer to farmers on time and this has resulted in a bumper harvest for this season.”
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