Anti Corruption Force Convenor and former Provincial Councilor Niroshan Padukka yesterday (28) raised concerns about the misuse of the recently imposed tax on onions and potatoes.
He made the remarks at a press briefing held yesterday (28) in Colombo, where he alleged: “The Minister of Trade, Commerce, Food Security and Cooperative Development Wasantha Samarasinghe and the Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, Lands and Irrigation K.D. Lal Kantha chaired the Food Security Committee. The duo took steps to increase the import tax during the period of harvesting. Accordingly, it was decided that the tax on big onions of Rs. 10 would be increased to Rs. 50 and that on potatoes of Rs. 60 would be increased to Rs. 80.
“However, the Treasury Secretary and the President cannot increase the prices of essential goods as they want. For this, the permission of the Director General (DG) of the Department of Trade and Investment Policies of the Finance, Planning and Economic Development Ministry must be obtained. If taxes on essential goods are to be increased, a gazette notification must be issued with the permission of the DG.”
He further expressed concerns about the timeline relating to increasing taxes. He added that while it was proposed to increase the tax on B onions and potatoes on 23 August, it takes a maximum of three days to import B onions and potatoes into Sri Lanka.
"However, for a period of two weeks, a group of fraudulent businessmen loyal to the Government have been continuously importing potatoes and B onions. Therefore, during the last 10 days, 18,000 tonnes of B onions and 23,000 tons of potatoes have been imported into Sri Lanka before the tax was increased. The Government has provided information about the tax to be increased on potatoes and B onions to the Government’s close and fraudulent trading group. At the same time, the Ministry of Finance has also asked the said DG Pradeep Kumara to sign the circular to increase the tax. However, he has declined.
“He has said that he cannot sign it as this is another act like the garlic and sugar tax frauds. Afterwards, although senior officials of the Ministry forced him, he did not sign it. Accordingly, he has resigned from his post. However, the Ministry has taken steps to issue the same under the Special Commodity Tax Act, No. 44 of 2007 with the signature of President Anura Kumara Dissanayake,” he alleged.
He added that before the tax was levied, the said businessmen had already brought a large stock of potatoes and B onions. Padukka opined that local farmers are losing their market to sell their harvest, and that the Government is taking steps to inconvenience the country’s farmers.