- Chairman of the National Council Sub-Committee on Economic Stabilization Patali Champika Ranawaka

Chairperson of National Council sub-committee on identifying short- and medium-term programs related to economic stabilization, Hon. Patali Champika Ranawaka said that the proposals related to earning the amount of 3500 billion rupees, which is the expected government revenue next year, will be included in his second committee report.

Sub-committee chairman mentioned this recently (Nov. 30) where the officials from the Inland Revenue Department, Sri Lanka Customs and the Excise Department were summoned to the committee to discuss matters related to raising the government's revenue next year. The program expected to be implemented by the above institutions to earn the expected income for the year 2023 was discussed here.

Special attention was paid to the factors that caused the country to become economically bankrupt. Among the reasons for this, there was a lengthy discussion on the decrease in the amount of tax files of the Inland Revenue Department from 14 lakhs to 5 lakhs and the amount of tax revenue lost to the government due to the tax revision enforced from December 01, 2019.

The committee chairman said that as revealed by the “Annual Report on Global Integrity”, a lot of money leaves the country annually due to high prices or low prices in the import and export process of the country, as well as by airplanes or ships.

Opinions were also expressed about the introduction of a taxation system based on facts such as electricity bill, telephone bill and vehicle ownership. It was also discussed that there is a surplus of ethanol production in the country and the possibility of exporting that amount. The Commissioner General of Excise mentioned that the export o‍f Coconut toddy and Kitul toddy to Canada has already been started.

It was also discussed that due to the removal of gold from the Foreign Exchange Act No. 12 of 2017, there has been a problem as the gold has been brought to this country as gold jewelery without any payment.

The committee chairman asked for comments and suggestions on the ordinances that should be amended to make the local revenue process more efficient.

Member of Parliament Hon. M Rameswaran and Several government officials were also present at the meeting held.