Solutions sought for tax problems:

Provincial Chamber Heads reach agreement

All Provincial Chambers of Commerce heads in Sri Lanka came to a general agreement recently to discuss the difficulties and anomalies the business community face in paying all kinds of taxes including the income tax and extend their proposals and solutions to the Government.

The heads of Provincial Chambers of Commerce arrived at this decision at the Forum of Provincial Chambers of Commerce Conference held at the Sovereign Hotel in Rajagiriya.

The heads from Provincial Chambers of Commerce of Mannar, Vavuniya, Trincomalee, Batticaloa, Ampara, Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa, Moneragala, Hambantota, Badulla, Ratnapura, Matara, Galle, Kandy, Kurunegala, Puttalam and Gampaha participated.

The co-ordination of this conference was done by Anuradhapura District Chamber of Commerce Chief Executive Director P.B. Dissanayake.

The conference was directed by Sri Lanka Provincial Chambers of Commerce Project Manageress Niroshanie Nayagam.

It was sponsored by the Asian Development Bank. The Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry of Sri Lanka (FCCISL), Senior Advisor Jinadasa Abeywickrema and the Lanka National Chamber of Commerce Deputy General Secretary Amal Dias participated.

The problems and anomalies the business community face in paying taxes to the Government and the solutions to them were discussed at length at this conference and all participants reached a general agreement to analyze them further and extend the proposals to the Government.

The Forum of Provincial Chambers of Commerce had been set up to strengthen the rural economies and developing small and medium scale entrepreneurs.