Sri Lankans paying high income tax & high indirect taxes

COLOMBO (News 1st) - The Commissioner General of the Inland Revenue Department Ivan Dissanayake stated recently that 24 percent of the income of a person and 28 percent of the income of a company will be charged as income tax. Though the direct tax is being charged in this manner the people are also paying a high percentage of indirect taxes. Former Deputy Governor CBSL, Dr. W.A Wijewardhena expressing his views on taxation in the country noted that there are three ways in which the Government can generate revenue, one is taxing people through direct taxes,  the second through indirect taxes, and the third by getting the public enterprises to generate profits. He continued that unfortunately, the country has resorted to relying heavily on indirect taxes which impacts low-income households as well. He noted that the Government must begin to look into ways in which state-owned enterprises could perform better so that the Government could ease the burden on the people.