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| Wednesday, 24 November 2004 |
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Politics | |
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| LSSP welcomes budget The Lanka Samasamaja Party welcomes the budget presented by the Finance Minister as it marks a significant departure from the IMF/World Bank dictated budgets of the past 27 years of the open economy. A genuine effort is being made to develop the economy on the basis of our natural resources using our own financial resources in the interest of our people, and focusing on the rural sector where over 70% of the people live and most poverty occurs. We hope that it will set the stage for ending the betrayal of the country and its people to serve the interests of the foreign multinational corporations and the Imperialist forces by their agents, the affluent 10% of the population who are led by the UNP, LSSP Secretary Wimalasiri de Mel said in a statement. The economic strategy of this Budget gives a clear place for production directed towards the internal market, particularly to achieve self-sufficiency in food, without only targeting the global market. The emphasis is being shifted from development based on foreign high-tech capital intensive industrialization which has not materialized to developing more appropriate labour intensive technology locally to be used by the national Small and Medium industrial sector. Without depending purely on the foreign and comprador private sectors for development of the economy and the infrastructure to support it, primacy is being given to the state to provide the latter and for it also to promote the local SME sector. These policies together with the strengthening of technical education are more likely to help solve the severe unemployment problem. The state sector, which was being run down earlier, is to be strengthened by increasing staff income and recruitment, enthusing them by giving a reasonable salary increase, health insurance and housing support, and improving the quality of service through computerization and more management training. We urge the government to also activise Employee Consultative Councils to promote this process. While calling on the employees to work harder and increase efficiency in the interest of the nation there should not be any compulsion to work longer hours, which besides being contrary to international norms, would cause transport and other problems. The LSSP appreciates the widespread welfare program that is envisaged. The National Plan for children, the relief for widows and extra maternity leave, the increase of pensions and better care for the elderly, the support for the Samurdhi program, the increasing expenditure on health care and education are all highly commendable. They reverse the trend of the UNF Government under IMF and World Bank pressure. Revenue collection is the key to implementing the above program. The tax policies are a distinct advance on previous policies and we specially commend the increased duties and VAT on luxury goods. The tax on jewellery sales, and enhanced taxes on casinos, cigarettes and liquor are all welcome. We regret that some other tax proposals of the LSSP and CP such as the levy of a stamp duty and capital gains tax have not been included. It would have been better if the direct income taxes too had been increased or at least kept to their original levels. The measures to widen the tax net are commendable but it might have been better to also include any "land transaction" as being a condition for inclusion. While the reduction of the VAT to 5% on essential items like food is a progressive step, we would still urge the Finance Minister to remove the VAT on these items altogether. The capacity and efficiency of the Inland Revenue Department has to be improved, the statement said. |
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