7 October 2021 09:01 am Views - 93
By Yohan Perera and Ajith Siriwardana
Unrecovered tax revenue by the Inland Revenue Department as at July 30, 2020 has amounted to more than Rs 290 billion, the report of Committee On Public Accounts (COPA) which was submitted to Parliament yesterday had revealed.
Professor Vitharana who presented the COPA report to the House said this amount had been lost as a result of the failure of the two systems which had been used by the Inland Revenue Department to collect tax revenue. “ This is shocking,” the MP said.
“There has been one instance when a Mercedes Benz vehicle had been imported paying a nominal amount of import duty under the guise of an ambulance,” Dr. Vitharana said while presenting it. The report also included the current status of the Muthurajawela wetland and Human-Elephant Conflict, which had been controversial matters among the public. It has also focused on the failure to reduce road accidents by half due to the shortcomings of the technical equipment required by the Sri Lanka Police who play a significant role in road safety and also pointed out the necessity to transform the National Council on Road Safety into a National Commission. The committee report submitted to Parliament stated that as a solution to the Human-Elephant Conflict, there is a possibility of adopting a mixed system that suits each area.
The report also observed that despite spending more than 10 percent of government revenue annually on education, some school children do not receive a quality education.