{"id":160934,"date":"2016-04-18T13:35:54","date_gmt":"2016-04-18T08:05:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=160934"},"modified":"2016-04-19T02:55:55","modified_gmt":"2016-04-18T21:25:55","slug":"despite-vat-increase-maithri-says-people-wont-be-burdened-with-tax","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/despite-vat-increase-maithri-says-people-wont-be-burdened-with-tax\/","title":{"rendered":"Despite VAT Increase, Maithri Says People Won\u2019t Be Burdened With Tax"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe appeared to have contradicting views on the increase in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=Value+Added+Tax&amp;x=13&amp;y=6\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Value Added Tax<\/span><\/a> (VAT), with Sirisena declaring that any economic advisor who suggest a tax increase which will burden the public will be \u2018sent home.\u2019<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/expose-president-sirisena-resorts-to-half-truths-to-conceal-his-brothers-greed\/maithripala-s-2\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-153778\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-153778\" src=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/Maithripala-S.jpg\" alt=\"Maithripala S\" width=\"255\" height=\"270\" \/><\/a>His statement came just days after the Finance Ministry, on the instruction of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe announced an increase in the VAT from the 11% to 15% which will come into effect from May 2, 2016.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking at an event held in Polonnaruwa this morning, Sirisena said that taxes will not be imposed with the intention of burdening the public, and any economic advisor who suggest such will be immediately sent home.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile speaking in Kurunegala over the weekend, former President Mahinda Rajapaksa lamented the increase in the taxes, pointing out that even essential items such as medication, which were exempted from VAT will be imposed with the tax with effect from next month. \u201cIt is the people who have to suffer by bearing this burden, which will affect ever sector from goods to telecommunication and even electricity,\u201d Rajapaksa added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":153778,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,2186,1,2375],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-160934","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-featured-news","category-news","category-stories"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.3 - 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