10th Parliament· 154 sittings on record · 30,475 speeches · latest 10 June 2026

The Hon. Kabir Hashim

Samagi Jana Balawegaya· Kegalle· 7 August 2025 ·Adjournment: Adjournment Debate: Current Economic Status of the Country

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Kabir Hashim argued that the Government’s increased revenue, including a 28 percent rise in the first half of the year due to higher VAT, has been achieved by burdening ordinary people. He criticized the prioritization of tax incentives for foreign investors while small and medium enterprises, which he said have collapsed, have not received necessary support.

Verbatim record (translated)

Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English

¶ 01 Hon. Deputy Chairperson of Committees, I will conclude with this point.

¶ 02 By increasing VAT, revenue collected in the first half of this year has risen by 28 percent. Revenue has increased, but it has been raised by squeezing ordinary people. That is wrong. We must remind the President of this. This Government is being run on the tax money taken from the people’s pockets. The President said further tax incentives must be given to foreign investments and barriers opened. But at a time when our small and medium sector has collapsed, they still have not been given the facilities they need.

¶ 03 Thank you.

Provenance

Source
Hansard, Thursday, 7 August 2025 ·No. 1755509552009433 ·English daily/uncorrected Hansard
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Cite as: The Hon. Kabir Hashim. 10th Parliament, Parliament of Sri Lanka. Hansard, 7 August 2025. No. 1755509552009433. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/24363