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Minister refutes Opposition allegation : No reduction of Casino Tax

by Ravi Ladduwahetty

Minister of Rural Economy and Deputy Finance Minister Bandula Gunawardena yesterday refuted an Opposition allegation that the Government had drastically slashed the Rs. 12 million tax imposed on Casino operators to Rs. 55,000.

The Government has in no way reduced the Casino tax by a red cent, Gunawardena told the Daily News yesterday.

What the Government has done is to impose a tax of Rs. 55,000 on operators who have venues for "Rudgino", a game played with cards and who were operating illegally and did not come under the tax net, he said. He explained that President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga in her capacity as Minister of Finance in the PA regime, had introduced a budget proposal which imposed a Rs. 25 million tax from casino operators, but did not yield the projected Government revenue as the tax slab was too high.

It was in that backdrop that the UNF Government reduced the casino tax to Rs. 1.2 million and the proceeds are better, he said.

The budget proposals also entailed the reduction of taxation from Rs. 500,000 to Rs. 300,000 for gaming institutions which use the media for advertising. It is with the correction of this distortion that the Government was drawing additional funds which were not coming to the state coffers, he said.

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