People being taxed while Aloysius’ Co. evades taxes: Vijitha

• The license of the Company had been cancelled due to non-payment of taxes
• The company was permitted to commence operations on condition that they pay the arrears taxes every 15 days

By Ajith Siriwardana and Yohan Perera   

W.M. Mendis and Company owned by Arjun Aloysius had evaded paying Rs. 204 million taxes for the last two months, whereas the government continue to impose taxes on the common man, National People’s Power (NPP) MP Vijitha Herath said yesterday.  

He told Parliament that the license of the Company had been cancelled due to non-payment of taxes and it was permitted to commence operations by the Court on September 16 this year on condition that they pay the arrears taxes every 15 days.  

He said however, the company has not paid Rs. 204 million taxes for the last two months despite the assurance given to the court that arrears would be paid every 15 days.  

The MP said that an Audit report issued on September 1 revealed that the Excise Department had not collected Rs. 5,130 million as excise taxes.  

MP Herath said the government was planning to sell off some profitable state institutions such as Sri Lanka Insurance and Sri Lanka Telecom and questioned on what basis those institutions were proposed to be sold.  
He said the government was planning to find temporary solutions to the economic crisis by selling off profitable state institutions without considering the long term consequences.  

“It is the policy of the UNP government to sell off state institutions. We ask how the SLPP government which assured to protect state institutions would support such a budget. It is contrary to the policies of the SLPP,” he said.