Nation Building Tax to rebuild North - Minister
Uditha Kumarasinghe and Irangika Range
Finance and State Revenue Minister Ranjith Siyambalapitiya told
Parliament yesterday that the Nation Building tax will not raise the
cost of living (CoL) as none of essential items has been included in the
tax. Tabling the Nation Building Tax (Amendment) Bill in Parliament, the
Minister said false and baseless allegations are made by the Opposition
that this tax would affect the CoL to increase.
"I stressed that this tax will not raise the CoL since ten essential
commodities have been exempted from the Nation Building Tax (NBT) as a
relief measure for consumers," he said.
The objective of the imposition of this tax is to upgrade and
facilitate the mega development projects implemented in the liberated
areas of the North and East.
"It is the responsibility of the Government to improve the livelihood
of these people since they have undergone many suffering due to the war
for the past few decades," the Minister said.
He said the Government will utilise these funds to improve
infrastructure facilities in the liberated areas as well as for the
well-being and welfare of the Armed Forces.
In addition, several consumer goods and services such as fertiliser,
gas, medicine, electricity supply, healthcare facilities, goods and
passenger transport services and life insurance ventures which affect
day-to-day lives of the people have been exempted from the tax. |
