COLOMBO: SL’s Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake said that a Rs.1 million annual levy aptly named the ‘Mansion Tax’ will be charged from owners of all residences valued over Rs.100 million or spanning over 5000 square feet.
“Over the years, the country has done away with the taxes on capital gains related to the sale of houses and real estate. However there is a need to reintroduce a similar mechanism to collect due revenue to the government arising from the high end luxury house owning segment in Sri Lanka,” he said. The government is expected to collect approximately Rs.1 billion a year from this move, noting the existence of around 1000 such properties.
He further added that the top 2 percent of the population lead lavish lifestyles at the expense of other 98 percent.The ‘Mansion Tax’ is to be collected by provincial governing bodies. This is in addition to local authority rates and taxes.
