News

Controversial Social Security Contribution Bill put off due to resistance from Opposition

Published

4 years ago

2022/09/7

By Saman Indrajith

The government yesterday decided to put off the Social Security Contribution Bill when the JVP and the SJB, in Parliament opposed it vehemently.

The Social Security Contribution Levy Bill had been listed for the second reading debate, and Parliament sources said that the party leaders had agreed to pass the Bill with several other regulations, without debate to save time for another debate, listed for the day, on current nutritional problems of children and women.

When the Leader of the House and Education Minister got up to present the Bill for the approval of the House, JVP leader, Anura Kumara Dissanayake, said that the Bill would place an additional tax burden on people. “The government keeps on levying taxes on people. The government’s excuse is that it does not have money. There is a financial crisis. Then it should first take action against former Central Bank Governor and ex-Finance Minister Basil Rajapaks for bankrupting the country. What action are you going to take against them?” Dissanayake queried.

The JVP leader said that the Bill envisaged introducing a social security tax. “The government keeps shifting the burden on to people. It increased the VAT from 8 percent to 12 percent and then most recently to 15 percent. Prices of all essential commodities including medicines, have gone up. There is a new tax called social security tax of 2.5 percent on the turnover. This turnover tax is on importation, production, selling and services. This tax is applicable to all fields of the economy. One who owns an industry, covering all these aspects, will have to pay 2.5 percent in importing, another 2.5 percent for 85 percent of the production and this tax will be levied again in distribution and selling. Thus, this tax is like a compound tax. With 15 percent VAT, this new addition will result in an increase of tax cost to around 20 percent. People are in great difficulty owing to the existing taxes. This is very unfair and unjust. No action has been taken against those who caused this crisis.”

“We are against this Bill,” Dissanayake said.

SJB MP and Chairman of the Public Finance Committee Dr. Harsha de Silva also opposed the the Bill.

He said it was not proper to enact a Bill without presenting a review of it.

He said that the Public Finance Committee did not approve any Bill without reviewing it. “However, we had to approve the Social Security Contribution Bill as we were informed that it was urgent.”

MP de Silva said that the Bill required some amendments and it could not be approved without perusal.

He said that the amendments to the Bill had been proposed without the approval of the committee.

“In other countries, they have either VAT or Turnover tax. You cannot have both. An accounting firm predicted that this 2.5 percent could go up to seven percent in the process. I agree with MP Dissanayake. This is an unfair tax.”

Dr. De Silva said the property sales business had been taken out of the list of enterprises to be taxed by the social security tax. “That is to help the rich. You are taxing the poor while giving exemptions to the rich. This is an unjust act,” he said.

Responding to the opposition MPs, Leader of the House Minister Susil Premajayantha proposed the postponement of the vote on the Social Security Contribution Bill to Thursday.

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Foreign News

One dead in US after being struck by taking off Frontier Airlines plane

Published

3 hours ago

2026/05/10

Priyan

A Frontier Airlines jetliner taxis down a runway for take off from Denver International Airport in Denver, Colorado [Aljazeera]

A person has died after jumping an airport perimeter fence in the US state of Colorado and being struck by a Frontier Airlines plane, according to authorities.

Denver International Airport said the unusual incident occurred late Friday, after the unidentified individual gained access to the tarmac.

It said the “pedestrian jumped the perimeter fence and was hit just two minutes later while crossing the runway”.

A brief engine fire followed the collision, which was put out by emergency responders, according to the airport.

It said that 12 of the 231 people on board suffered minor injuries, with five hospitalised.

The airport said investigators had examined the fence line where the individual entered and “found it to be intact”.

It added that the struck individual “is not believed to be an employee of the airport”.

“We are extremely saddened by this incident and express our sympathies to those involved,” the airport said.

Both local authorities and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) were investigating the incident.

Airport safety in the US came under renewed scrutiny earlier this year amid a prolonged shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which temporarily left both Transportation Security Agents (TSA) and air traffic controllers working without pay.

While instances of people being killed on airport tarmacs are rare, Friday’s incident came a day after a Delta employee was killed after an airport vehicle struck an airbridge at Orlando International Airport.

In March, two pilots were killed after an Air Canada Express plane crashed into a fire-rescue vehicle at LaGuardia Airport in New York.

About 225,000 people travel through Denver International Airport a day.

[Aljazeera]

Latest News

Showers above 100 mm are likely at some places in the Western, Sabaragamuwa, Central, Southern, Uva, North-western and Northern provinces and in Anuradhapura district.

Published

4 hours ago

2026/05/10

Priyan

WEATHER FORECAST FOR 10 MAY 2026
Issued at 05.30 a.m. on 10 May 2026 by the Department of Meteorology

The low-level atmospheric disturbance in the vicinity of Sri Lanka is likely to develop into a low-pressure area around 11th of May. Therefore, the prevailing showery conditions over the island are expected to continue during the next few days.

Showers or thundershowers will occur at most places over the island, and cloudy skies are expected over the island. Heavy showers above 100 mm are likely at some places in the Western, Sabaragamuwa, Central, Southern, Uva, North-western and Northern provinces and in Anuradhapura district.

The general public is kindly requested to take adequate precautions to minimize damage caused by temporary localized strong winds and lightning during thundershowers.

News

Lanka Port City officials to meet investors in Dubai

Published

4 hours ago

2026/05/10

Thilina Walpola

ECONOMYNEXT –Colombo Port City (CPC) officials will head to Dubai to meet with investors on June 11, as Sri Lanka’s most ambitious economic zone looks for further foreign investments.

“We are meeting people in Dubai and the Middle East in order to demonstrate that Colombo Port City can be a supplementary zone of investment,” Harsha Amarasekara, Chairman, Colombo Port City Economic Commission (CPCEC), told Economynext.

The meeting will be organised by CPCEC, China Harbour Engineering Company, Consulate General of Sri Lanka – Dubai, and the Embassy of Sri Lanka – Abu Dhabi.

Foreign investor meetings have been a consistent factor in marketing CPC, and identifying potential markets has been a priority for CHEC and CPCEC.

“We have shortlisted and identified primary markets and we have combed the globe in that to say have a rationale behind why you would want to do certain things, a road show in a particular country,” Thulci Aluwihare, Deputy Managing Director, CHEC Port City Colombo, told Echelon Media.

“Once we kind of shortlist on that, then we aggressively go and market Port City, first Sri Lanka I should say, then Port City.”

“Sri Lanka is known in the world as a tourist destination, not essentially for a doing business capital. That is the narrative that we are trying to change,” he added.