Mr. Harshada Silva, Member of Parliament for Samagi Jana Balavega, has emphasised the need to immediately review the massive tax break granted last year to a large-scale project called ‘Cinnamon Life Complex,’ which was launched by a collaboration between Sri Lanka’s well-known John Keels Company and HCL Technologies Company.
In a special statement to the ‘Island,’ he says that the companies that have received these tax breaks should also be subject to the new corporate tax imposed by the current government.
He stated that the government has introduced a new tax amendment aimed at companies in accordance with the International Monetary Fund’s conditions, and thus these two companies should be included in the same tax category.
Mr. Silva, on the other hand, emphasised that, despite the Finance Committee informing the Board of Investment to submit the relevant documents regarding the tax concessions granted, they have yet to do so.
According to Mr. Silva, it is also problematic that these companies are not able to lease the leased property for other strategically important economic projects that can earn more profit.
According to Mr. Silva, the previous government granted this tax break to John Keels and HCL Technologies for a period of 25 years, but when the country’s economy has collapsed, this type of tax break is unacceptable and should be terminated immediately. has occurred
Mr. Silva has also stated that if this is not done, there will be strong public opposition. Mr. Harshada Silva has also stated that the country will be informed about the Sajaba policy in this regard once the information about the tax relief granted to this company is reported.
However, a few days after the formation of the good governance government, on 31 January 2015, a special cabinet paper was presented and passed, and mixed development projects were given large tax concessions., decided to suspend tax incentives given to gaming, particularly casino projects.
Measures were taken through that cabinet paper to remove companies that had received tax breaks, such as Water Front Properties (pvt) Ltd, Lake Leisure Holdings (pvt) Ltd, and Queensbury Leisure Ltd.
Mr. Harshada Silva wonders if the facts contained in the cabinet paper do not apply to the John Keels and HCL Technologies companies.
In 2015, the Maithri-Ranil government together with Karu passed the cabinet paper removing tax concessions. Copy of the cabinet paper.
