September 18, Colombo (LNW)Sri Lanka Customs has refuted a claim made by NPP Presidential Candidate Anura Kumara Dissanayake that there is an outstanding tax of 1.1 trillion rupees to be collected. According to Customs, the actual amount of outstanding tax is 58 billion rupees.
Customs officials clarified that the majority of this 58 billion rupees is owed by 37 public institutions, with only one private company contributing to the total.
Sarath Nonis, Director General of Customs, further highlighted the institution’s record-breaking performance in revenue collection. As of the first eight months of 2024, Sri Lanka Customs has generated 1000 billion rupees in revenue, the highest in its history, positioning it to meet the 2024 revenue target of 1534 billion rupees as projected by the IMF. This surpasses the previous record of 975 billion rupees collected in 2023.
Dissanayake’s earlier statement regarding the 1.1 trillion rupees in outstanding tax was made during a discussion on a private television channel.
