VAT (Amendment) Bill approved by a majority of 45 votes

• 100 members voting for and 55 against. Some 69 members were absent during the vote

By Yohan Perera and Ajith Siriwardana  

The Value Added Tax (Amendment) Bill which was aimed at  boosting the state revenue by imposing VAT on 97 items was approved  by a majority of 45 votes with 100 members voting for it and 55 against. Some 69 members were absent during the voting time.  

  Former Minister Roshan Ranasinghe who was removed from the  cabinet recently voted against while Vadivel Suresh of SJB voted in  favour.  

Among absentees were Namal Rajapaksa, who said a few hours  before the vote that he was against the amendment. However, his father,  former President Mahinda Rajapaksa voted in favour.   

Accordingly, the government succeeded in its attempt to  boost revenue by enacting a piece of legislation to reduce the  VAT-exempted list from 138 categories of items to 97, a move that will  have a two per cent inflationary effect.  
The approval came a day before the possible approval of the  next IMF tranche. IMF is expected to decide on the second tranche to  Sri Lanka today.  

State Minister of Finance Shehan Semasinghe who wound up  the debate said the opposition was trying to prevent the country from  becoming economically stable once again after the economic crisis it  suffered last year. “The abrupt end of the debate on the Amendment on  Sunday was an attempt by the opposition to prevent the country from  becoming economically stable once again. Therefore, I request the  opposition to support the legislation for the sake of the nation,” he  said.