The Department of Inland Revenue has always over the past years imposed undue hardships on legitimate depositors by way of the Withholding Tax (WHT), Debit Tax and thereon.
The Inland Revenue Act stipulates that all customers who receive interest over the threshold to pay WHT notwithstanding the manner of accumulating such funds; be they daily wage earners, monthly salaried persons, pensioners etc….. all of whom mainly fall into middle income earners and below.
All the above persons have saved small amounts over the years, foregoing luxuries; in order to earn something extra to supplement their monthly income in the present context of high cost of living. It is accepted that the daily increase in prices of essential items have drastically deteriorated the purchasing power and the standards of living.
BUT, those of whom having more that what they need are permitted to invest in Instruments, free of WHT/taxes to further increase their income and wealth. A classic example is the share market.
Can a person struggling to survive afford to risk their savings in gambling whilst the state encourages the people with excess liquidity to trade millions of rupees, in shares free of WHT and debit taxes enabling them to get richer whilst the less privileged fall into a worse plight?
With regard to share investors, I would like to ask the Commissioner General of Inland Revenue:
1)Is the source of such wealth ascertained.
2) Have they paid and/or are paying necessary taxes.
3)Have they declared such wealth in their asset declaration while filing tax returns.
4) What are the limitations to invest in the share market.
5) What is the maximum tax free income from such trading
In this context, I request the tax authorities to extend a level playing field without discriminating the poorer segments.
Aswan B.
Colombo |
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