The Hon. (Dr.) Harsha de Silva

¶ 01 If you are speaking about VAT on financial services, that is fine, but we are not debating that here today. The VAT on financial services is 20.5 per cent. But going beyond that to what ordinary people pay: VAT is 18 per cent; SSCL is 2.5 per cent. If SSCL is looked at as a VAT-like impost, it is at least around 3 to 4 per cent effectively. So VAT in effect is higher than 18 per cent. That is what I wanted to point out.

¶ 02 Hon. State Minister, you also omitted something else. At present, in the Port City, if a person’s employment is to be terminated, the permission of the Commissioner of Labour is required. Now you are removing that protection. I am not arguing here about its merits, but what did you tell the people at the parliamentary and presidential elections? You said you stand for workers; you said you are the JVP, the NPP. Today you are removing the protection that existed via the Commissioner of Labour. If that is not true, stand up and say I am lying. You initiated this debate, but you did not speak about this. The issue is within the Port City.