Tax Chief urges everyone to pay taxes except himself!

Gone are the days when we saw politicians of the ilk of D.S. Senanayake, Sir John Kotalawela, Dudley Senanayake, C.W.W. Kannangara, M.D. Banda, S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike, Mrs. Sirima Bandaranaike, M.D.H. Jayawardena, Gamini Jayasuriya and D.A. Rajapaksa. They became poorer and poorer, being in politics.

Recent politicians have conferred upon themselves immunities from Income Tax. Of the 20 million people, only 200,000 tax payers pay income tax to maintain politicians and public servants in luxury. No one has so far challenged this in court. That does not mean that politicians and top public servants can perpetrate this colossal fraud. This is the point at which corruption commences. Corruption does not mean only taking bribes. If a set of persons confer upon themselves privileges which others don’t enjoy, that is as much corruption, though clothed in legality.

Evasion of income tax is not only immoral but only illegal. Unfair laws are passed by politicians, whereby they make themselves and public servants not liable to income tax, thus conferring huge benefits upon themselves nearly 20 million others don’t enjoy.
Though legal, this is a gross violation of Article 12 (1) of the Constitution whereby it is mandatory that everyone should be treated equally, and all privileges enjoyed by politicians and public servants should be enjoyed by all the people in this country. If one faction is exempted from income tax, all others also must be exempt from income tax.

This is unambiguously stated in our Constitution. Though the Constitution is the supreme law, politicians, in gross violation of Article 12(1), have enacted laws conferring unreasonable benefits upon themselves. This is ultra vires the Constitution, and has no effect in law. Any law passed in violation of the Constitution, can easily be declared illegal, and monies so far enjoyed should be made recoverable.

If the government keeps harassing the existing 200,000 tax payers, there will be more and more tax evasion and stashing away of monies abroad. After all, why should one faction pay income tax, when politicians and public servants do not pay a cent? They also rob the tax payers’ money, and the tax payers have to bridge that gap as well.

The Inland Revenue Department and the Ministry of Finance are finding ways and means of harassing existing tax payers. Some in the department robbed Rs 387 billion of public finds in the VAT scam. Certain officers who have done illegal favours to some politicians, enjoy political patronage. Since these offences are not time barred, they can be taken in, even much later. Going abroad after retirement to enjoy the ill gotten spoils, will not help, as Interpol and other agencies will track them down. The Commissioner General without harassing the tax payers should recover this Rs 387 billion robbed from the public. This alone will be enough for this year’s budget.

In any democracy, everyone pays income tax except in Sri Lanka. The Queen of England now pays taxes voluntarily. So does the US President not only on his salary but also on his perks. Sri Lanka is the only country where politicians and public servants have made themselves exempt from income tax. In addition to the use of free state cars, free petrol, free drivers, free electricity and free telephone, they have also rewarded themselves duty free car permits without paying a cent as customs duty thus defrauding customs revenue.

If they have any love for the country and if they are true patriots, all politicians and public servants whose income is above the tax threshold must voluntarily pay their taxes.

It is laughable that the Commissioner General runs an advertisement in the electronic media (also with the tax payers money), titled “Pay Taxes for a better Future”, when he himself does not pay a cent as taxes, but sends out stunning assessments.
The question is – is it for a better future for the people or a better future for politicians and public servants?