VAT will be reduced by next year - Ravi

Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake today issued a challenge to former President Mahinda Rajapaksa to debate any issue with the government in the Parliament instead of limiting his speeches to Buddhist temples. 

 Responding a question from reporters regarding the tax revision, during an event at Thotalaga, he said that the government has to impose either Value Added Tax (VAT) or the Nation Building Tax (NBT) and that they chose the former due to the fewer burden placed on the masses.

This is strictly to pay off the debt collected by Rajapaksa and for nothing else, he said. “We will reduce this by next year.”