State Minister of Finance Shehan Semasinghe addressing Parliament during the adjournment debate, criticised the economic policies proposed by the main opposition Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB).
The SJB has been critical of the current and former governments led by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and President Ranil Wickremesinghe, particularly targeting their economic strategies, Semasinghe said.
The State Minister however, highlighted statments made by the SJB, suggesting that taxes would be reduced under a SJB government.
“According to estimates for 2024, the government expects to collect Rs. 3870 billion in tax revenue and a total government revenue of Rs. 4127 billion. As of now, Rs. 1040 billion in tax revenue and Rs. 1522 billion in total revenue have already been collected for 2024,” the State Minister revealed.
“According to the SJB proposal, if the corporate tax is reduced to 24%, only Rs. 640 billion can be collected this year, with a 21% reduction,” Semasinghe stated.
“With a 21% reduction, we can estimate a loss of Rs. 140 billion. If we talk of the PAYE tax, there will be a loss of Rs. 40 billion. They also talk of VAT reduction, but overall the SJB is talking about cutting off revenue of over 10% of the GDP,” he added.
Semasinghe charged that the SJB is fully aware that these changes cannot be introduced without thrusting the economy into further crisis, adding that these statements were made in view of forthcoming elections. (Newswire)