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Expect post-election tax shocks if SLPP wins, warns JVP leader

JVP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake flanked by NPP National List candidate Tuan K. Azoor and Kalutara District candidate Dr. Nihal Abeysinghe addressing a press conference held at the party headquarters on Sunday
By Saman Indrajith
The government is doing exactly the very obverse of what it had promised to win the presidential election, therefore people should not take the SLPP’s promises seriously, says the JVP.
Addressing the media at the party headquarters, JVP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake said, on Sunday: “The SLPP came to power promising one law for all, but some persons are above the law. The SLPP has on its platform some characters who have Interpol red alerts against their names. They broke the quarantine laws at many places including the funeral of Minister Arumugam Thondaman. The law was bent to save the person who demolished an ancient royal pavilion at Kurunegala. That is how they maintain the rule of law.”
Dissanayake said that 6.9 million people had voted for the SLPP candidate at the last presidential polls, believing that he would not divest national assets. “There is still no clear statement that it would do away with the Millennium Challenge Corporation compact with the US. People did not vote for the SLPP to sell off the East Container Terminal of the Colombo Port. Trade Unions had to resort to strikes to obtain a promise from the Prime Minister but the problem is far from resolved. There has been a Cabinet paper to demarcate a 10-acre area covering land belonging to the Examinations Department at Malay Street, Police land in the Slave Island
and Air Force premises in adjacent area and to get it under the purview of the Urban Development Authority. We believe that their plan is to sell the entire land off in the near future.”
Dissanayake asked people to brace for massive tax hikes after Aug 5 elections because the SLPP would increase the prices of essential items to raise funds to keep the economy going. “There will be unprecedented price hikes. There will be tax increases. There is a need for a force that could fight against those moves. Only the JVP-led NPP is equal to that task. We’ll have to fight in and outside parliament. We therefore ask the people to cast their votes for the NPP and send as many as NPP members possible to the next parliament.”
NPP National List candidate Tuan K. Azoor and Kalutara District candidate Dr. Nihal Abeysinghe also addressed the press.
News
UNDP: Rs 600 bn tax cut a huge mistake

Director of the Sustainable Finance Hub of the UNDP Marcos Neto has called the decision to do away with a range of taxes here a fundamental mistake committed by Sri Lanka.The comment was made at the Parliament complex during an interactive dialogue on ‘Revenue Generation as a Pathway to Sri Lanka’s Economic Recovery’ on Tuesday (09). It was organised on a request by Anura Priyadarshana Yapa, former Chairman of the Committee on Public Finance to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
The Opposition as well as several other parties alleged that the government had lost as much as Rs 600 bn due to the controversial decision to do away with a range of taxes including PAYE, NBT (Nation Building Tax), Withholding tax, Capital Gain tax imposed on the Colombo Stock Exchange, Bank Debit tax and unprecedented reduction of VAT (Value Added Tax). The 15% VAT and the 2% NBT which amounted to 17% imposed on all goods and services were unified and reduced to 8%, effective from the first of December 2019.
The decision was taken at the first Cabinet meeting of the Gotabaya Rajapaksa government on 27 Nov. 2019.Governor of the Central Bank Dr. Nandalal Weerasinghe is on record as having said that the powers that be ignored the IMF warning not to do so and also the immediate need to restructure Sri Lanka’s debt (SF)
News
Debate on power tariff hike on 29 Aug.

Party leaders have decided to debate the electricity tariff hikes in parliament on 29 August.The date was fixed for the debate following a request by the main opposition SJB.The debate will be held from 9.30 am to 4.30 pm on 29 August.
Chief Opposition Whip Kandy District MP Lakshman Kiriella told Parliament on Wednesday (10) that as per the proposed tariff hike the monthly electricity bill of domestic consumers would increase by 75 percent to 125 percent. “This is unbearable. This is like sending the people to an electric chair while they are struggling to make ends meet amidst a massive increase in cost of living.
How does this government expect people would be able to pay such an exorbitant price for electricity? We demand a debate in parliament before this proposed tariff hike is implemented,” Kiriella said.
News
British national to be deported

By Rathindra Kuruwita
The Department of Immigration and Emigration has ordered Kayleigh Fraser, a British national whose passport has been taken into custody after she posted on social media anti-government protests, for violating her visa conditions, to leave the country by 15 August. The Department has already cancelled her visa.
Earlier this month Immigration and Emigration officials visited Fraser at her home and took her passport into custody. The Department said Fraser had been in Sri Lanka for medical reasons since 2019. She had returned home several times, it said.
The Immigration and Emigration officers told her to visit them within the next seven days.Fraser on 02 August said that a group of immigration officers had visited her and asked for her travel document. She said that officials told her that they would return her passport when she visited the Department of Immigration and Emigration.
Fraser added that she had received an anonymous call asking her to leave Sri Lanka as soon as possible before facing ‘big problems.’ Immigration officials visited her house a few days after the call.
Fraser has shared a number of photographs and videos from the ‘Gota Go Gama’ site. Human Rights groups and activists have accused the Sri Lankan government of using Emergency regulations to harass and arbitrarily detain activists seeking political reform and accountability for the country’s economic crisis.
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