Patali challenges President to collect unpaid excise taxes

• Urges President Ranil Wickremesinghe to take action by cancelling licences of excise tax defaulters
• Says despite various claims according to official data amount of uncollected excise taxes in 2023 is Rs. 1,120 b
• Claims if this collected with another Rs. 978 b waived off would have doubled State revenue

United Republic Front (URF) leader and Member of Parliament Patali Champika Ranawaka has publicly challenged President Ranil Wickremesinghe to take decisive action against excise tax defaulters, accusing the President of shielding alcohol companies that have failed to pay their dues.

Speaking to the media at an event in Colombo on Tuesday, Ranawaka challenged President Ranil Wickremesinghe to prove his ability to take action by cancelling the licences of excise tax defaulters and to recover the taxes still owed to the Government.

Commenting on President Wickremesinghe’s claim that the Commissioner General of the Excise Department had informed him there were minimal uncollected excise taxes, Ranawaka said that, according to the law, alcohol tax is payable immediately upon sale. “There are unpaid taxes amounting to Rs. 7.9 billion, including past dues. This year, too, there is a significant tax shortfall, which is on record. He is asked to collect these taxes first and demonstrate his commitment,” Ranawaka challenged. 

“The amount of uncollected excise taxes in this country as of 31 December 2023 is Rs. 1,120 billion. Similarly, the amount of tax waived in 2023 is Rs. 978 billion. Together, these total nearly Rs. 2,000 billion. If collected, this amount could have doubled the state income of our country. These are real statistics, not figures from our side but directly from the relevant institutions,” Ranawaka said. 

“These figures are taken from the reports submitted by the Excise Department, Customs Department, and Inland Revenue Department to the Committee on Ways and Means of Parliament. So, I would be surprised if he said such a thing,” he added.

Ranawaka highlighted that two companies are failing to pay their taxes, with one of them evading payments in an exceptionally aggressive and blatant manner. He criticised both the Ministry of Finance and the Excise Department for lacking the resolve to temporarily suspend these companies’ licences and recover the unpaid taxes.

He said the licences were temporarily suspended, and tax collection proceedings were initiated on 1 November 2023, but this process has since been abandoned. Therefore, Ranawaka urged that the licences of the companies that have defaulted on taxes be cancelled. He said the Excise Department and the Ministry of Finance must take these steps before making such claims.