SL Economic Policy Group’s first paper highlights need to raise tax collection

An economic policy group that has four leading international expert economists at the helm, has published a paper that urges Sri Lanka to reinstate three key policies to help reverse the ongoing economic crisis.

Verité Research Sri Lanka Economic Policy Group, publishing its first paper under its banner, recommended the government to reinstate the Pay-As-You-Earn (PAYE) and Withholding (WHT) tax collection (at 10 percent) and to implement the agreed formula on cigarette taxation.  According to the policy group, doing so, even without any increase in income tax rates, will help improve government revenue by Rs.93.1 billion in 2022 and Rs.229.3 billion in 2023. 

“That is over 0.8 percent of GDP. This would take Sri Lanka a significant distance in achieving its revenue to GDP targets, which are an important milestone towards achieving macroeconomic stability,” the Verité Research Sri Lanka Economic Policy Group said in its first public release. The full paper will be made live from today and can be accessed on the Verite Research website.

The core Verité Research Sri Lanka Economic Policy Group consists of four international and local economists, who are supported by several other economists and researchers working in and outside Sri Lanka. 

The core group members are Prof. Dileni Gunewardena, Professor of Economics (Chair) at the University of Peradeniya and a non-resident fellow of Verité Research; Prof. Mick Moore, a political economist and Professorial Fellow at the Institute of Development Studies and a non-resident fellow at Verité Research; Dr. Nishan de Mel, Executive Director of Verité Research and Prof. Shantayanan Devarajan, a professor of the practice of international development at Georgetown University’s Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service and a non-resident fellow of Verité Research.