The government reported that tax revenue of 978 billion rupees was lost due to the tax concessions given in the fiscal year 2022-23 (April to March). (Sri Lanka Latest News)
The amount of tax revenue thus lost is 56% of the tax revenue collected in 2022.
PublicFinance.lk, Sri Lanka’s leading platform that provides analysis and insights into the economy, revealed these facts and this platform is run by Verity Research Institute.
PublicFinance.lk has used the tax expenditure statement published by the Ministry of Finance of Sri Lanka on March 31, 2024.
This report has estimated the revenue that the government has lost through the various special targeted tax concessions provided by Sri Lanka.
It further states that the purpose of this report is to increase the transparency of financial affairs reporting in Sri Lanka by following internationally accepted best practices.
This information should have been published in 2023 as per the commitment given by the government under the loan program of the International Monetary Fund in Sri Lanka that the names of all the companies entitled to tax concessions through the Investment Promotion Board and the Strategic Development Projects Act and an estimate of the value of the tax concessions will be published semi-annually. March 2024 was classified as a ‘committed but not fulfilled’ commitment by the updated IMF meter (https://manthri.lk/en/imf_tracker).
