Report on benefit from tax revision on sugar called for Chairman CoPF

By Yohan Perera and Ajith Siriwardana  

Chairman of the Committee on Public Finance Anura Priyadarshana Yapa, instructed the Ministry of Finance officials to submit an impartial and investigative report to Parliament on whether consumers will benefit from the sugar tax revision.  

The Chairman of the Finance Committee emphasized that although the tax on the price of imported sugar was revised to 25 cents from Rs.50.00 per kilogram through the Gazette Notification No. 2197/12 issued by the Ministry of Finance on October 13, 2020, it did not benefit the consumers at all.   

Meanwhile, the Chairman further instructed the Ministry of Finance officials to submit a report to the Committee on whether the revision of the tax on steel towers imported for construction will also benefit the general consumers.  
Mr. Yapa stated that the general public should really benefit from the government’s tax reforms.  

He said so while considering several special gazette notifications pertaining to the Ministry of Finance issued since last October at the Committee on Public Finance on January 5.  

Attention was also drawn to the steps to be taken to encourage the production of canned local seawater and freshwater fish, the revision of taxes on health test kits and the code revision of safety masks. However, the Chairman stressed that the state mechanism should make all the positive changes necessary for the people to live a better life.