COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s Finance Ministry has dispelled the media reports that new taxes have been imposed on dates as baseless and stated that the current special commodity levy of Rs. 60 per kilogram of dates has not been changed.
By the year 2015 the total amount of taxes imposed on a kilo of imported dates was around Rs. 130. The levy included 15% Customs Tax, 7.5% Port and Airport Development Levy, 25% Cess, 11% VAT and 2% Nation-Building Tax. Following the reduction of prices of essential goods from 20th November 2015, all taxes and restrictions on the imported dates were abolished. Instead of all the taxes, a Rs. 60 per kilogram special commodity levy was imposed. Thus the government has arranged for the importation of dates with Rs. 70 less taxes per kilogram. In addition, the government has allocated the relevant ministry to provide the funds needed to pay taxes on the dates donated by foreign governments for special religious occasions.
While during the debate held on 3rd May to approve the special commodity levy imposed by the November 21, 2016 (03) Extraordinary, Gazette parliamentarian Sunil Handunneththi defined this as a new tax, it is not a new tax imposed, but a further extension of the tax implemented from November 2015, the Ministry clarified. The reports published in print and electronic media based on the MP’s statements are completely unfounded, and no new taxes has been imposed on the dates that will be imported to the country in the coming Ramadan season, the Ministry said.
