Seven bills to raise revenue through mega taxes

Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayaka has reintroduced the Finance Act (Amendment) Bill which seeks to impose the Mansion Tax and Migration Tax and the Super Gains Tax on a company or individual whose profit before tax exceeds Rs. 2,000 million.

This and six other bills aimed at raising state revenue were presented to Parliament by the Finance Minister this week amid opposition protests.

The Mansion tax will be imposed on every owner of a mansion constructed on or after April 1, 2000, at the rate of Rs 1 million per year, in addition to the rates and taxes charged and levied by any local authority, and shall be paid in four equal installments.

A Mansion has been described as “any building constructed on or after April 1, 2000, for residential purposes, of which the floor area is not less than 10,000 square feet as per the building plan approved by the local authority of the local authority area wherein such building is situated, or the value of such building, as at the first day of April of any relevant year, is not less than Rs 150 million, as determined by the Government Chief Valuer, or by an officer authorized by him, after making any adjustment as may be prescribed, and in the case of a condominium property , a condominium unit of such property shall be deemed to be a building for the purposes of part.

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(Source: Sunday Times)

Port City Project agreement further extended

The Cabinet on Wednesday gave the nod to extend the agreement for the controversial Colombo Port City Development Project for a further period of six months, Cabinet spokesman and Minister Rajitha Senaratne said.

 “The period of the agreement signed between the Government and the relevant project company on September 16 last year expired on September 15 this year and hence a proposal had been made by Ports and Shipping Minister Arjuna Ranatunga to extend the bilateral agreement for six more months from September 15, 2015 and it was approved by the Cabinet of Ministers,” Dr. Senaratne told the weekly cabinet news briefing. 

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(Source: Daily Mirror)

Seagull directors indicted in HC for breach of trust

The Directors of Seagull Property Developers (Pvt) Ltd, a company which builds condominium properties for sale, have been indicted in the High Court of Colombo for breach of trust.

The case was called up this week before High Court Judge Lalith Jayasuriya. The indictment has been served by the Attorney General’s Department under Section 403 of the Penal Code for “cheating and dishonestly inducting a delivery of a property”.

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(Source: Sunday Times)