Letters to the Editor....

Thursday, 12 December 2013 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Alternate thinking to ‘Alternate Thinking’ This is in response to the article published in the Daily FT on 5 December titled ‘David Cameron: Should be condemned or commended?’ in the ‘My View – Alternate Thinking’ column by Harsha Gunasena. I don’t usually waste my time replying such puerile outpourings but on this occasion I was moved by the sheer shock of knowing such mindsets existed within our boundaries. Mr. Gunasena, David Cameron is just another cheap politician from a line that begins long before Miliband, all clothed in a fancy educations and brought up in a glass bubble and taught to ‘hold pandang’ to the Americans. Where is your national spirit, gratitude to a leader who has done so much for Sri Lanka, and your basic analytical skills? Your ‘Alternate Thinking’ is so one-sided, it is an insult to your qualifications which you so proudly display. Did David Cameron (your Knight of Human Rights) ever put pressure on Barak Obama for the closure of Guantanamo Bay – a proven torture chamber of the American Government? In his recent visit to China, did he utter even a word against China’s human rights issues in Tibet, or did he object to a Bloomberg journalist being barred from entering his very press conference by Chinese authorities for no apparent reason, or for the Chinese locking up a Nobel laureate for his disparaging comments about the Chinese Government? No. But I suppose you are okay with all that. Cameron came here on our invitation, enjoyed our hospitality (and from what I’ve heard, hospitality like never before in CHOGM history) and washed his dirty laundry in public because he knows he can get away with it. Maybe that’s what they teach children in those fancy schools – to be bullies. He dare not do so against China and the USA because he will get squashed like a bug. He played to his diaspora constituents and lobbyist of LTTE proxies at our expense. Political thuggery in this country is not something born of this Government. It has been present since the Premadasa era and has sadly become part of political life here. The Tamil people in the north have seen more growth and development than in any other part of post war Sri Lanka and they got to vote their own provincial council in for the first time in 30 years. A step in the right direction, don’t you think? President Rajapaksa is a dictator – true. But a benevolent one, and at this stage of a country’s development, you need that as did Malaysia and Singapore, especially when there are people like you at the voting booth. Speaking of the voting booth, I must also point out that more than 60% of this country has repeatedly, peacefully, endorsed this Government at a record number of elections at all levels. As for you sir, you should get a visa to the UK (if they will give you one, which I doubt) and be on a one-way trip there, as Sri Lanka, or our leaders, will probably never be good enough for you. Chandima Desinghe (also an MBA holder)

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VAT on wholesale and retail turnover Value Added Tax was imposed on buying and selling with effect from 1 January 2013, where the quarterly turnover exceeds Rs. 500 m. However, an appeal was made for the relief of the VAT embedded in the stocks held as at 31 December 2012 or to permit transitional period (which is allowed under the Act) to sell the stocks as at 31 December 2012 without VAT. Similar concessions of granting relief were made when GST and VAT were introduced on 1 April 1998 and 1 August 2002 respectively. Regrettably this request was not considered and large trading organisations including super markets absorbed this loss with the view to maintaining the prices at the same level. Now two more amendments have been suggested effective 1 January 2014: (a) The threshold of Rs. 500 m per quarter to be reduced to Rs. 250 m per quarter. (b) A subsidiary or an associated company of a group of companies engaged in wholesale and retail trade to be liable for VAT based on the aggregate value of supplies of each company in the group engaged in trade. These steps, I understand, have been taken to counteract the alleged action taken by big traders (including super markets) in splitting their turnover among group companies. It must be admitted that these types of action to avoid tax liability would not have arisen if the Department of Inland Revenue had granted the relief (input of VAT embedded in closing stocks) in 2013. They should have been fair by big traders (including super market) when VAT was introduced on 1 January 2013. In the circumstances, I appeal that this relief be granted on stocks as at 31 December 2013 so that prices will not change in the future with the additional burden on traders. Further in the past BTT, GST, VAT, Stamp Duty, ESC and Income Tax have been computed on individual turnover/income and not on group turnover/income. It is better for the Ministry to have dialogue with trade associations and big traders (including super markets) and grant suitable relief accordingly. In view of fact that the time period of less than a month is only available, early action is welcome. S.R. Balachandran, BSc.FCA, FCMA