The Minister of Finance and Media, Mangala Samaraweera stated that politician Bandula Gunawardana was making twisted statements about the new Inland Revenue Bill like a blind man.

He stated this upon issuing an official statement on the new Inland Revenue Bill.

Remarking that Gunawardana had said that the new Inland Revenue Bill sought to advantage foreigners and disadvantage locals, Samaraweera then raised the question as to whether Bandula Gunawardana had forgotten how he used to be a part of the previous government which used the Strategic Development Projects Act to offer large-scale tax relief to foreigners.

He said that about 10 percent of the population of Sri Lanka had ended up receiving 54 percent of the economic gain due to the previous government’s covert tax relief policy.

The Minister then proceeded to state that the present Government had introduced a tax relief system that benefited local investors who had up till now been neglected under the new Inland Revenue Bill, and added that the era of going behind politicians to receive tax relief was finally over.

He said that former President Mahinda Rajapaksa and his disciples were attempting to mislead the public by means of false rumours because they couldn’t bear the fact that the new Bill aimed to do away with the power vested in ministers, departmental heads and institutional heads to offer tax relief at their individual discretions.

He added that even the Finance Minister’s powers would be curtailed under the new Bill.

The Minister also said inaccurate statements were being made that families with an an income below Rs. 600,000 per annum, senior citizens, and religious institutions would also be subjected to taxation under the Bill.

In his capacity as the Minister of Finance, Mangala Samaraweera accordingly affirmed through his release that the aforementioned groups of people would not be affected contrary to rumours.