The Government will hike taxes on alcohol and tobacco taxes again in June 2023, and will slap drinkers and smokers with taxes linked to inflation from January 2024, according to intentions declared in an International Monetary Fund program.
Sri Lanka has a large public sector workforce and ministers requiring people to pay higher taxes.
“The first increase was implemented on January 1 for tobacco and on January 3 for alcohol; the second increase to be implemented before end of June 2023,” the IMF program said.
Sri Lanka will then move to “automatic indexation of excises to inflation” from January 01, 2024.Sri Lanka plans to raise tax revenues to 15 percent of GDP by 2025.
Sri Lanka will also introduce “a nationwide real property tax including a review of related fiscal transfers from and also introduce a gift and inheritance tax with a tax-free allowance and minimal exemptions from January 1, 2025. (Economynext)