The Hon. Bimal Rathnayake - Minister of Transport, Highways, Ports and Civil Aviation and Leader of the House of Parliament

Jathika Jana balawegaya· National List· 20 March 2025 ·Committee report: Public Finance Committee Report and Procedural Exchanges

Public FinanceParliamentary Procedure

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The Minister said the issue should be addressed constructively within the Committee, noting agreement with Hon. Harsha de Silva’s approach and clarifying that the Deputy Minister had not opposed cigarette tax reform. He tabled an IPS policy paper on raising tobacco taxes, highlighting its estimate that a unified cigarette excise could have generated an additional LKR 23.6 billion in 2021. He stated that the cigarette tax structure showed signs of manipulation and urged the Committee to consider recommendations benefiting revenue and public health.

Verbatim record (translated)

Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English

¶ 01 It is more appropriate to resolve this within the Committee. I discussed this with Hon. Kaushalya Ariyaratne as well. We agree with the approach suggested by Hon. Harsha de Silva. The Deputy Minister was clarifying a word choice, not opposing reform of the cigarette tax. We all respect the service the Hon. Member renders through the Committee on Public Finance. The concern arises from the implication that approval was given solely to pass the Budget, which can be misinterpreted by the media.

¶ 02 For the record, I wish to table a printed copy of the IPS Policy Paper titled “The Case for Raising Tobacco Taxes in the National Budget for 2023.” It estimates Government could have earned LKR 23.6 billion in additional revenue in 2021 if a single excise for all cigarette lengths had been introduced per the formula. While we should not accept any one paper uncritically, there is evident manipulation and influence in the cigarette tax structure. The Committee can have a constructive discussion to recommend measures beneficial to the country and public health.

¶ 03 Placed in the Library.

Provenance

Source: Hansard, Thursday, 20 March 2025 ·No. 1746596381071973 ·English daily/uncorrected Hansard
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Cite as: The Hon. Bimal Rathnayake - Minister of Transport, Highways, Ports and Civil Aviation and Leader of the House of Parliament. 10th Parliament, Parliament of Sri Lanka. Hansard, 20 March 2025. No. 1746596381071973. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/24015