Govt. urged to act on COPA report or face the consequences

By Shamindra Ferdinando

JVP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake says the country is paying a huge price for the failure of successive governments to streamline tax collection process. The JVPer insists the tax collection process has been somewhat debilitated by rampant corruption and irregularities.

Dissanayake was responding to The Island query regarding massive losses in tax revenue highlighted by the current Committee on Public Accounts (COPA) in its first report to the parliament tabled on July 20th.

Such large scale fraudulent activities couldn’t have been carried out without the complicity of those in authority whoever was in power, the Colombo District lawmaker.  The JVP contested the 2020 general election on the National People’s Power (NPP) ticket. The JVP parliamentary group consists of three, including one National List MP, Dr. Harini Amarasuriya.

MP Dissanayake alleged that in addition to the failure on the part of the government to collect due taxes and mismanagement of finances, absolutely unjustifiable decision to sharply reduce taxes soon after 2019 presidential election dealt a deadly blow to national economy.

The government owed an explanation why the Treasury was denied as much as Rs 650 bn in taxes at the onset of incumbent administration, MP Dissanayake said. The country could have coped up with the continuing crisis caused by raging Covid-19 epidemic much better if the tax structure in place at the time of the 2019 presidential election was retained, he said.

Responding to another query, the JVP leader emphasized that a serious examination of losses caused by the ruling SLPP’s reduction of taxes amounting to Rs 650 bn should be made.  Parliamentary watchdog committees, namely the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE), Committee on Public Accounts (COPA) and Committee on Public Finance (COPF) should take up the matter. The latest COPA reported exposed an extremely embarrassing state of affairs in key institutions responsible for the tax collection process, the MP said.

Pointing out that the Customs and the Motor Traffic Departments coming under the purview of the Finance and Transport ministries, respectively, had been particularly named by COPA, MP Dissanayake said that massive scam in sugar imports soon after the last parliamentary poll proved how decisions were made at the expense of the national economy.

Referring to COPF proceedings that dealt with the sugar tax scam, MP Dissanayake said that COPF Chairperson Anura Priyadarshana Yapa (SLPP/Kurunegala District)  is on record as having said on January 5, 2021 consumers hadn’t benefited at all by Finance Ministry decision to reduce Rs 50 tax on imported kilo of sugar  to paltry 25 cents. MP Yapa was referring to a gazette No 2197/12 issued by the Finance Ministry on Oct 13, 2020, the JVPer said. MP Dissanayake said that the sugar tax scam was as bad as the Treasury bond scams perpetrated by the previous administration. Although some government members expressed concerns over the sugar tax scam at the COPF, the government conveniently turned a blind eye to what the JVPer called a brazen fraud perpetrated on the hapless population.

Have you ever heard of such a drastic reduction of taxes in respect of sugar on any other occasion, MP Dissanayake asked, alleging the incumbent administration as a result of sheer crookedness caused unbearable loss of revenue. The JVP leader said that sugar tax scam couldn’t be suppressed though the government acted as if nothing had happened.

Successive governments obviously facilitated fraudulent practices in the tax collection system. The incumbent government was no exception, the MP said, underscoring how government revenue gradually dropped over the years as robber barons took over the national economy. “We are now in such a desperate situation those in authority seem to be clueless where the national economy is heading,” MP Dissanayake said.

Urging the government to go flat out to recover long overdue taxes, the JVP leader said that in spite of big talk the government was in a bind, struggling to face the daunting financial challenge. Asked to explain the situation, lawmaker Dissanayake said that the raging Covid-19 epidemic deprived Sri Lanka of two major sources of income, namely funds remitted by those who had been employed overseas and the disruption of tourism. The JVPer pointed out that tourism suffered in the wake of 2019 Easter Sunday carnage followed by Covid-19 as both ruined the sector.  Acknowledging that the country had managed to sustain the garment trade and other exports, lawmaker Dissanayake said that the economy was in a critical phase. The government seemed to be either incapable of comprehending the rapid deterioration or it could sustain the economy until the ongoing vaccination drive achieved desired objective.

MP Dissanayake said that Sri Lanka could no longer afford to delay taking action to restructure revenue collection mechanism. The SLPP should be prepared to face the consequences unless continuing corrupt practices were brought to an end. The deterioration of national economy caused by Covid-19 against the backdrop of waste, corruption, irregularities and negligence could overwhelm the country soon unless remedial measures were taken.

The JVPer said that the parliamentary system of governance should take command of the situation regardless of the political power being with the SLPP. The deepening national economic crisis couldn’t be addressed by playing politics with the issue at hand as commanding overwhelming majority in parliament wouldn’t be relevant.

The JVP leader said that there was no need to comment on proposed tax amnesty to crooks as former minister Dew Gunasekera, one-time General Secretary of the Community party, in an interview with The Island explained futility of such an exercise.