On the above topic there was a letter published by the Sunday Times on November 15, where it was pointed out that the Department of Inland Revenue (DIR) has always over the past years imposed undue hardships on legitimate depositors.
As we all know the Sri Lankan government collects more than 95 % of its income through various taxes.
As an apex body on income in Sri Lanka, the DIR imposed taxes on almost everything without taking the economic consequences into consideration. Sri Lanka would have been the only country in the world that discourages legitimate entrepreneurs through the DIR’s strange tax policies. How can a country be developed without legitimate entrepreneurs?
The DIR is deterring legitimate entrepreneurs in the country by imposing unwarranted taxes in every form. On the other hand it is losing billions of peoples money on VAT scandals and surprisingly no action had been taken against responsible officers.
In such circumstances the only hope is capital formation through the Colombo Stock Exchange for busineses.
This is quite a vital factor since national savings in the country is as low as 20 percent. With such a rate of savings you need some incentives to create capital formation and that’s why investors in share market are exempted from capital gain taxes.
Investors who don’t posses a sound financial background should try to invest in the share market with professional help. In every sense the market is the most rewarding investment option for any Sri Lankan compared to the traditional banks.
Punchihewage
Don Jinadasa,
Kathaluwa. |
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