Minister of Justice Dr. Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe said yesterday (17) that there should be a change in the tax system in this country and direct taxation should be increased in order to recover the collapsed economy regardless of the International Monetary Fund conditions.
He said this while attending a press conference held at the Ministry of Justice.
The minister also pointed out that although the existing government had prepared a tax plan to collect tax from high income earners by 2019, a crisis was created in the country by changing it by the former president.
The Minister said that it happened because the former president was misled by giving wrong economic advice.
The Minister said that he had four tax files at that time and saying that he was not eligible to pay taxes the government had taken action to close three tax files.
But he said that neither he nor anyone else had said that he could not pay taxes or had asked for concessions and had never said that he could not pay taxes.
According to the Government’s future economic outlook, the Minister said that he expects the people’s support to collect taxes from those with higher incomes rather than those with lower incomes.
