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Government Revenue Loss due to the Sugar Tax Cut

The Special Commodity Levy (SCL) on imported sugar was reduced from LKR 50/kg to LKR 0.25/kg on the 13th of October 2020. This was intended to reduce the price of sugar in the domestic market. The cumulative loss of government revenue was ov...

Cigarette Taxation Formula – The Cost of Forgetting

In 2019 the government introduced a policy where taxes and prices on cigarettes would be based on an indexation formula. Forgetting to implement the policy is costly: it has resulted in a foregone revenue of 85 billion from 2020-2022 and will cost a further 45 billion...

Changes in Tax Structure Leads to Shrinking Tax Base across Various Taxes

Sri Lanka experienced a significant change in its tax system for the year 2020. These changes have led to a considerable shrinking in Sri Lanka’s tax base across various taxes. A narrow tax base increases tax administration costs and reduces revenue collection....

Budget Obfuscates Benefit From Cigarette Tax Increase

Tax on Cigarettes is proposed to be increased with immediate effect. As a result, the price of a cigarette will increase by Rupees five (5).

Taxing the Digital Economy

The Minister of Trade, Mr. Bandula Gunawardena recently stated that the Sri Lankan Government is contemplating introducing a system to regulate the online business platforms and bring some of them under its tax...