By. Ashoka Peiris
Taxes in a country should be collected properly by the relevant officials, and the money should be received by the treasury of that country without fraud. Then, the people of that country also have the right to know how the government spends its tax money.
The previous governments avoided collecting taxes from their closest business allies, on the other hand various taxes were imposed on the common people. The current National People’s Power (NPP) government came to power for the security of the country and its people.
A meeting between President Anura Kumara Disanayake and officials of the Inland Revenue Department was held yesterday (05) at the Presidential Secretariat.
During the discussion, extensive attention was given to the strategies required to achieve the targeted revenue of the Inland Revenue Department for this year.
The President emphasized the necessity of a more intervention approach than the current mechanisms in place to recover uncollected revenue. The President also instructed officials to take necessary measures to ensure the full tax revenue owed to the Inland Revenue Department is collected.
The Minister of Labour and Deputy Minister of Economic Development, Dr. Anil Jayantha Fernando, the Secretary to the President, Dr. Nandika Sanath Kumanayake, the Secretary to the Ministry of Finance, Mahinda Siriwardana, the Senior Additional Secretary to the President, Russel Aponso, Acting Commissioner General of the Inland Revenue Department, R.P.H. Fernando and several other officials from the Inland Revenue Department participated in this discussion.