While importers welcomed the tax cuts, the government’s decision to slash taxes and remove surcharges on imports would help the government improve its revenue as volumes make up for the reduction in taxes and it is in line with proposals made by the Presidential taxation committee an official said.
The govrnment has slashed an import excise duty on vehicles by 50 percent, lifted 15 percent surcharge on all imports, revised several import duty bands down to 0 percent, 5 percent, 15 percent and 30 percent from 0 percent, 6 percent, 16 percent and 28 percent. Taxes on items such as watches and cameras have been brought down to 10 percent.
"These changes are basically in line with what the presidential taxation committee proposed," an official who wished to remain anonymous told the Island Financial Review.
He said: "Import duties on vehicles were too high and domestic sales have been falling since 2008. Of course when we had problems with foreign currency reserves, it made sense to increase import duties and introduce various surcharges so as to discourage the outflow of foreign exchange.
"High taxes resulted in falling sales volumes and that created another problem where the government could not meet its revenue targets. Now that the country’s reserve position has improved, it makes sense to remove the surcharges and reduce taxes.
The increase in volumes as demand for these items, especially vehicles, improve would more than make up for the reduction in tax rates, and the government’s revenue
http://www.island.lk/2010/06/03/business1.html
The govrnment has slashed an import excise duty on vehicles by 50 percent, lifted 15 percent surcharge on all imports, revised several import duty bands down to 0 percent, 5 percent, 15 percent and 30 percent from 0 percent, 6 percent, 16 percent and 28 percent. Taxes on items such as watches and cameras have been brought down to 10 percent.
"These changes are basically in line with what the presidential taxation committee proposed," an official who wished to remain anonymous told the Island Financial Review.
He said: "Import duties on vehicles were too high and domestic sales have been falling since 2008. Of course when we had problems with foreign currency reserves, it made sense to increase import duties and introduce various surcharges so as to discourage the outflow of foreign exchange.
"High taxes resulted in falling sales volumes and that created another problem where the government could not meet its revenue targets. Now that the country’s reserve position has improved, it makes sense to remove the surcharges and reduce taxes.
The increase in volumes as demand for these items, especially vehicles, improve would more than make up for the reduction in tax rates, and the government’s revenue
http://www.island.lk/2010/06/03/business1.html
