News
SJB warns of further tax increases
Chief Opposition Whip and Kandy District SJB MP Lakshman Kiriella says that there will be further tax increases under the current dispensation.
Speaking at a rally in Watteg-ama, Kandy, on Sunday, Kiriella said: “The Gota-baya Rajapaksa government, too, was responsible for the situation. When we formed a government in 2015, the World Bank instructed us to increase state revenue. We found that big companies evaded taxes. They did so by declaring only 25 percent of their actual income. Thus, the then Finance Minister was instructed to tax those companies. By doing so we earned Rs 800 billion in a year. Gotabaya Rajapaksa, in his government’s first Budget, did away with that
tax and lost Rs 800 billion as a result. Couple of months later, there was the COVID pandemic and we were left without money to purchase medicine. Since then the governments have lived on nothing but taxes.
Kiriella said the SJB had learnt that the government was planning to burden the public with further tax and tariff increases.
Following the conclusion of bilateral discussions between President Anura Kumara Disanayake and Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi, official-level talks between the delegations of Sri Lanka and India commenced this morning (05) at the Presidential Secretariat in Colombo.
Representing the Government of Sri Lanka were Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Employment and Tourism, Vijitha Herath; Minister of Labour and Deputy Minister of Economic Development, Anil Jayantha; Secretary to the President Dr. Nandika Sanath Kumanayake; Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, Dr. P. Nandalal Weerasinghe, along with other senior officials.
The Indian delegation included Minister of External Affairs Dr. S. Jaishankar, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri and His Excellency Santosh Jha, High Commissioner of India to Sri Lanka, along with several other senior officials of the Government of India.
Indian Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, who arrived in Sri Lanka on the invitation of President Anura Kumara Disanayake on Friday [04] night, visited the Presidential Secretariat this morning (05).
The Indian Prime Minister was warmly welcomed by President Anura Kumara Disanayake upon his arrival at the Presidential Secretariat.
Prime Minister Modi is currently on a state visit to Sri Lanka, reaffirming the theme “Friendship of Centuries — Commitment to a Prosperous Future” which symbolises the longstanding ties between Sri Lanka and India. The Indian Premier is scheduled to remain in the country until tomorrow (06).
[PMD]
The official welcoming ceremony for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was held this morning (05) at the Independence Square in Colombo.
On arrival at the Independence Square the Indian Prime Minister was warmly welcomed by President Anura Kumara Disanayake.
Discussions between Sri Lankan and Indian delegations at the presidential secretariat
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Indian Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi arrives at the presidential secretariat
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