The Minister was speaking at the 15th Annual Conference of Inland Revenue Commissioners held at Hotel Kingsbury, Colombo on Monday (02).
The Minister noted that the revenue targets could be met if taxes could be collected from such individuals.
He was of the opinion that some of those who are financially well off do not take any interest to pay taxes but make good use of benefits offered by the government. This situation has to be changed said the Minister and added that it is the responsibility of the Inland Revenue Department to lure them into paying taxes.
The Minister further said that the government hope to present a people - friendly radical budget, this year for which proposals were obtained from all parties. Out of these the proposals received from the experts of the Inland Revenue Department are of special significance, he said.
Next year, the tax revenue target is Rs. 2000 billion, he added and said "We know how to collect taxes from them and we will achieve it."
“The best example is the Excise Department. In November 2014, excise income was Rs 2500 million. This month we have received an income of Rs 1.1 billion. That is a growth of 400%. How was that made possible? Such victories were made possible when you pursue targets while having good governance. In the future, our tax regime has to be restructured to be more people friendly. Our income generation avenues have to be diversified. Our aim is to make the Inland Revenue Department more people oriented from next year onwards,” the minister said.
Secretary to the Finance Ministry Dr. R.H.S.Samaratunga, the Commissioner General of Inland Revenue Department Mrs Kalyani Dahanayake and senior officials of the Department were present on the occasion.
