Eran Wickramaratne MP alleged that foreign investors do not come to this country not because of the lack of tax incentives, but because the country's laws are not properly implemented.
He said that the fact that Sri Lanka is ranked 99th in the international index of ease of doing business and 164th in the enforcement of agreements is a good example.
Starting the debate on the investment promotion and technology ministries, presented the proposal to cut Rs 10 from those budget allocation in the traditional manner.
The MP who spoke further said that we cannot let this country go like this. Let us all build a new country together. No place could be given to family bandits.
However, Eran Wickramaratne emphasized that the government should provide the required management and operational skills and efficiency for that.
Therefore, he demanded that we as a country, as a parliament and as a government, work together to make this country prosperous. In order to do so, he emphasized that it is the government's responsibility to follow the rules and regulations give priority to the rule of law.
Referring to the previous day’s debate of the VAT bill he said that it was absolute disgrace as the process was not followed at all.
Parliamentary powers and privileges act talks about the freedom of speech and debate.
Rather than a freedom of individual it was on the freedom of Parliament and privilege to have debate on very important subjects. VAT Bill becomes very important because the government’s revenue was estimated at the budget- 2023 to be 3.4 trillion rupees but it has now been revised downward to be Rs 2.8 trillion by falling down from the original estimates.
The 2024 new budget proposals says that the increased revenue will be
Rs 4.13 Trillion. Accordingly, the difference between the actual in 2023 and the budget -2024 is Rs 1.28 trillion.
Out of this more than 56 % percent increment comes from the VAT. That is why the debate of Vat is absolutely important. The way it was not permitted to debate in parliament was a disgrace.
A government is by nature a majority party. A government can bring any bill and pass it through the majority. But the government should leave room for debates about the harm caused to the people.
Unfortunately, the government did not give that opportunity to the opposition. IMF in their diagnostic report on Sri Lankan governance talks about these types of deficiencies in Sri Lanka.
The civil society in the country also talks about governance diagnostics. It is a matter of process but not about numbers and budgets. The process must be followed and that is what good governance is. Eran Wickramaratne said that unfortunately the Speaker of the House did not follow the process in permitting a debate on the subject matter of Value Added Tax increase.
The poor people, who are already economically affected by the increase in VAT, which is an indirect tax, have to suffer the most. Government should collect revenue from those who can afford to pay taxes. But the poor people are taxed the most through VAT.
According to the government's fiscal policy, the State Fiscal Policy Department should advise the government on collecting direct taxes as far as possible.
Sri Lanka has received loan assistance 16 times from IMF before this. It was said for the first time that there are issues in the governance of Sri Lankan government. No other country in Asia has been ridiculed in such a manner with the allegation of governance and economic management issues.
Wickramaratne said that if we always follow the due process and system properly, we will not have to face such accusations as a country.
Over 40 years ago, Sri Lanka's export income was 3.5 billion dollars. At that time, Bangladesh exported 3.5 billion dollar worth of goods. Vietnam's income was also 3.5 billion dollars.
But as of today Bangladesh’s export revenue is about 80 billion USD and Vietnam, amounting to nearly 400 billion USD worth export of goods and services. We are still limping to increase Sri Lanka's export income to about 12 USD as of today.
This is not the fault of one government, but today the responsibility lies with this government.
If this government does not implement the system properly, investors will not come to this country. It should be understood that the presently, trading environment is different from the open economy of 1977.
Even though every country has facilities to get tax concessions, investors come to a country looking for the accountability of the law enforcement authorities.
Sri Lanka is at low level in providing necessary facilities to investors, so will investors come to Sri Lanka without changing harassment meted out to them?
Recently, a group of civil societies and lawyers went to court to ask who is responsible for the economic crisis in this country. Some members of the ruling party were talking about how a government policy can be questioned by the court.
The Supreme Court did not subject to judicial review about the state policies. The judgement running to more than 250 pages have determined about the actions and accountability of those who were responsible for the debacle.
It has been decided that former President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, former Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, former Minister of Finance Basil Rajapaksa and former heads of the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank are responsible for pushing the country into economic crisis.
We cannot let this country go like this. Let's build a new country together. No place is given to family politics.
However, Eran Wickramaratne emphasized that the government should create necessary management and operational efficiency for that.