FactCheck (@factchecklka) pointed out that Prime Minister and Finance Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa's budget speech included wrong facts about tax collection.
The Prime Minister said, "Tax in place of the various goods and service taxes and levies, imposed under multiple laws and institutions on alcohol, cigarettes, Telecommunication, betting and gaming and vehicles, which accounts for 50 percent of the income from taxes and levies. It is expected through this reform to direct Institutions under special legislation such as the Excise Ordinance to have a more focused regulatory engagement in facilitating the government to secure its revenues otherwise lost through sale of illicit alcohol and cigarettes."
FactCheck pointed out "50% of total tax revenue would amount to Rs 867 billion in 2019; based on figures available to us, taxes collected on these goods and services amounted to less than Rs 500 billion, which is less than 30% of total tax revenue."
The Prime Minister proposed to introduce a special Goods and Services Tax for, alcohol, tobacco, gaming, telecommunications replacing several different taxes.
