By Saman indrajith

Parliament session allotted for the Second Reading debate on the Value Added Tax (Amendment) Bill and the Finance Bill were put off yesterday for want of a quorum.

The debate was scheduled to be held from 9.30 am to 4.30 pm as decided in the Committee on Parliamentary Business, chaired by Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena, on Nov 20.

State Finance Minister Ranjith Siyambalapitiya moved the House for the debate on the VAT (Amendment) Bill. He said that VAT would be imposed on 97 out of the 138 goods that had previously been exempt from the tax in a bid to boost state revenue. He said Short Message Service (SMS) in fixed telephone networks would also be subjected to VAT, given the increased number of text messages sent. Medicines, equipment used by disabled persons, rice flour, wheat flour, vegetables, fruits, liquid milk, and the ‘Suwaseriya’ ambulance service would not be subjected to VAT, the State Minister said.

However, as the debate was in progress, Kurunegala District SJB MP Nalin Bandara, pointed out that there was no quorum in the House. He accused the government of trying to hoodwink the due process in passing the VAT bill. The MP said that there weren’t 20 MPs in the 225-member House and as such it was wrong to continue the debate without the quorum.

State Finance Minister Shehan Semasinghe said that the vote on the bill was scheduled to be taken later in the evening and the government MPs would be there in the House on time for the vote and the debate could be continued.

Chief Opposition Whip Kandy District SJB MP Lakshman Kiriella said the debate could not be held if documents with the relevant information were not available.

State Minister Semasinghe said two separate lists which included 300 items on which VAT was imposed and the list which included the items which are exempted were available.  “You can find the list for which VAT will be imposed,” he said.

However, the Opposition MPs walked out at that moment.

Owing to protests from the Opposition, the Deputy Speaker decided to suspend the proceedings and ordered that the quorum bell be rung.

However, the number of the MPs who responded to the quorum bell was fewer than 20 when the count was taken after five minutes of the ringing of the quorum bell twice.

Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa took away his party MPs in protest against the proposal of increasing the VAT to 18 percent.The Deputy Speaker adjourned sittings until 9.30 this morning.

Parliament sources said that some SLPP MPs were opposed to the VAT increase therefore they were absent yesterday. They would continue to be absent this morning too, the sources said.

The last three days of the Committee Stage Debate of the budget will be held from Monday the 11th to Wednesday the 13th and the division on the third reading of the Appropriation Bill (Budget) for the financial year 2024 is scheduled to be held on the 13th at 6.00 pm.