• Org. seeks removal of 18% VAT and 2.5% Social Security Tax on brown sugar 

A petition campaign has been launched demanding that the taxes imposed on locally manufactured sugar be removed.

The Citizens of the People’s Struggle organisation, which launched the campaign, said that this demand was put forward in a bid to strengthen the local sugarcane industry, especially to compete with imported, inexpensive sugar.

The organisation's General Secretary Chanaka Bandara told The Daily Morning that the petition specifically seeks the removal of the 18% Value Added Tax (VAT) and the 2.5% Social Security Tax imposed on brown sugar. He opposed the importation of sugar in a context where the local sugar industry has the capacity to fulfill the sugar requirement.

The petition is to be submitted to President Anura Kumara Dissanayake.