The Committee on Ways and Means of the Parliament met recently under the chairmanship of its Chairman Patali Champika Ranawaka. There, the Committee expressed its appreciation of the manner in which the Excise Department has collected its taxes in relation to the first quarter of this year.
It was appreciated that 51 billion of the 52 billion tax target given to the Excise Department in the first quarter of the year has been collected so far.
The committee has ordered the Sri Lankan Excise Department to collect the arrears of 1.1 billion rupees from the alcohol producers for the year 2023 by June 30.
It is reported that the Chairman had questioned the Excise Department about ignoring the committee’s order that had been taken to temporarily suspend licenses from non-tax-paying alcohol producers until payment of taxes.
The Excise Department officials had informed the committee that a system has been prepared to collect the related tax arrears in installments without canceling the licences.
However, the committee was ordered to collect the related tax arrears by June 30 as they were not satisfied with that method.