Sri Lanka’s government taxed individual car importers

Jan 30, 2015 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s new government impose an annual license fee of 1.5 million rupees irrespective of the fact whether importers are engaged in importing brand new or used vehicles, Finance Minister said yesterday. However this tax will take away the freedom of individual citizens to import cars and open paths for registered car importers to earn 'fees' from individual importers.

The present practice of anybody and everybody resorting to be importers will cease with the Motor Vehicle Importers Association invited to provide a listing of registered vehicle importers to facilitate the proposed licensing process. Karunanayake said.

At present, there are many deficiencies in regulations pertaining to vehicle importation and trading industry, Ravi Karunanayake, Finance Minister of Sri Lanka said while presenting the interim budget 2015 in parliament.

In particular, there are a number of importers who do not follow the regulations of the relevant authorities and try to avoid formal channels or to make various manipulations wherever possible,

This situation has resulted in a significant revenue loss to the government.

He said this measure has been taken to encourage people