SJB MP Eran Wickramaratne said if the Government wants to raise the salaries of 1.4 million public servants, it will require trillions of money.
The Government will definitely have to trim the Public Service to achieve the increase in salaries of the public servants.
MP Wickramaratne said that the economy of the country cannot be brought back to normal by only increasing the state revenue alone. It is necessary to minimise waste and expenditure. The income of the country can be obtained only by increasing the country’s gross domestic product and for that, more investment opportunities must be created in the country.
He stated this at a press conference held at the Opposition Leader’s office in Colombo yesterday.
“The Value Added Tax has been increased by 18 percent. Cabinet Spokesperson Minister Dr.Bandula Gunawardhana stated that this tax will be effective from January 2024. Minister Gunawardhana also stated that the value added tax was increased by 18 percent due to the low revenue of the government.We all agree that the state revenue should be increased,”he said.
“The revenue of the Good Governance Government in 2019 was about 10 percent as a percentage. By the time we left, that figure had increased to about 13 percent. But the state revenue should be at least 20 percent as a percentage in Sri Lanka.The problem lies in the question of which taxes will be increased and from whom the taxes will be levied,”he said.
Rakshana Sriyantha