The Hon. Amila Prasad

¶ 01 Hon. Deputy Speaker, thank you for this opportunity.

¶ 02 Today’s debate concerns a matter of great importance for the future world—motor vehicles related to energy. The Deputy Minister of Finance and Planning explained many points. One key point is that for 76 destructive years, EVs were taxed at 15 percent—our people should know that. While levying high taxes on diesel and petrol, a lower tax on low-carbon vehicles helped people purchase them. Now it has been raised to 30 percent. What does that mean? Vehicles are being treated not as consumer goods for people, but as revenue tools for the Government.

¶ 03 Instead of implementing adequate plans to cut State expenditure, ad hoc measures are taken while recurrent costs rise. Then vehicles are used to plug fiscal gaps. Another question: you said tax varies by motor capacity. Is it targeted by country or brand? BYD one rate, Nissan X-Trail another, American makes another? That ambiguity arises when focusing on motor capacity alone.

¶ 04 Our principal crisis is the energy crisis. Without solving it, the country cannot move forward. To revive the economy and hit targets for 2025 and 2028, energy costs must drop. What is happening now? You tax vehicles, collect money into the Treasury, and direct it to items like increased salaries. But the vehicles imported now will remain 10–20 years. Over 20 years, EVs save large volumes of fuel. Therefore, EV taxes should be minimized, encourage solar panel installation, and allow home charging, especially for vehicles that travel under 100 km per trip and for three-wheelers where it works well. Make it possible for more people to move from motorbikes to electric three-wheelers at affordable cost. Treating vehicles purely as fiscal instruments is regrettable.

¶ 05 Three-wheelers are used by lower-income people—the so-called poor. You won power appealing to their hearts. Now you curtail their opportunity to buy an affordable vehicle. A Government advances a country by enabling people to live with ease. Instead, after a difficult period, people who hoped for relief are once more burdened under the same old refrain of a “collapsed country.” This does not conform to our economic model. The world must be won with renewable energy.

¶ 06 You spoke about global climate change as a key barrier and the need to reduce carbon emissions, yet you increased EV taxes. That is contradictory. If you said you increased taxes on petrol and diesel, fine—but you did not. While promising carbon neutrality by 2050, you make small vehicles less accessible and push people back to walking. If you truly achieved higher revenues in Q1 than last year, why change taxes now?

¶ 07 You also said this would ease dollar pressure. Maybe temporarily, but with fewer EVs, long-term fuel imports will rise. Have you quantified forex differences over 20 years for 100 EVs versus 100 petrol cars? I challenge that this was not properly computed. You came to power on people’s dreams; fulfill them. There are many ways to raise State revenue.

¶ 08 Continuously I point to loss-making State entities. SriLankan Airlines can be restructured via a public–private partnership. Select high-expenditure entities and restructure them. The CEB’s theft and corruption have not been addressed; yet it has returned to losses in Q1. Seek real solutions: stop corruption, increase renewables. Expanding EVs will stimulate the renewable sector and investment. Instead, prioritizing petrol and diesel contradicts climate goals.

¶ 09 You represent the majority; you can take big decisions, including restructuring. Trade unions and the middle class will support. Do not run on ad hoc, externally driven ideas. Before designing such policies, study how developed and developing countries conserve dollars over the long term. These choices affect decades. Strengthen, not weaken, renewables; nudge people toward them. Revenues and expenditures determine tax policy. Have the courage to cut recurrent spending and raise capital expenditure. I see reports that capital spending has fallen in Q1 compared to before. You once spoke of 5 percent growth; now you expect 3.5 percent.

¶ 10 Every sector faces crisis. Energy projects reversed; some foreign projects rolled back. With reduced EV imports, focus shifts to fossil-fuel vehicles, creating more issues. Increasing recurrent spending through wage hikes further strains capital budgets. Despite claims that the Budget had the largest capital allocation, now it appears to be falling. This trajectory is not toward the growth we expect. Instead of advancing, ordinary life is regressing. I urge revolutionary decisions on energy—open generation to the private sector while the State controls transmission; allow multiple providers so people can buy power competitively. Without such steps, we cannot move forward.

¶ 11 Copying other countries vehicle by vehicle creates further problems in a world of integrated economies and tariffs. Be mindful: you are building the country we all must live in. Build a nation where people live with ease and dignity. I hope the Government will take the right decisions without fear. Thank you.