The Value Added Tax (VAT) Bill received the blessings from the Supreme Court today.

Ravi Karunanayake

According to the Supreme Court ruling, the amended VAT Bill, is in accordance to the Constitution, this was announced in Parliament today by Deputy Speaker, Thilanga Sumathipala.

Thus, the Bill when comes into effect, will result in the public having to pay a further 4% tax from the current 11%.

The amended VAT bill was presented in parliament early this month for a second time, after the Supreme Court ruled that the first time the bill was presented it was not in accordance to the Constitution.

In April this year, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe made an announcement in Parliament that the VAT will be increased from 11% to 15% with effect from May. However, following a petition by Opposition MP Wimal Weerawansa; the Supreme Court issued an interim order suspending the tax increase mid-July. The tax increase was to become affective after the Government passed the VAT Bill in Parliament, however the government suffered yet another setback in August when the Supreme Court ruled that the government had not followed the correct procedure when presenting the Bill in Parliament and therefore it was null and void.