http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Reiter_Lambo.jpg

The government has since clarified that the excise tax free import will be for single seater racing cars and go carts. You can remove the passenger seat and bring it as a single-seater sports car. Very much like Micro who imports the Korando without seats and fits them here and claim that the vehicle is "assembled" in Sri Lanka! Way to go Lanka. You can also ask Micro to do a version of the Lambo sports cars that are assembled in Sri Lanka. Then the price can be even lower and all patriotic citizens will buy the "locally-made" Lambo!

This attracts more visitors and foreign tourists than Colombo night car races.

For example, it takes over 3 hours to get to Kandy from Colombo in a normal car. A racing car will get you there much faster. But at a fraction of the cost of building a highway from Colombo to Kandy.

The issue is that the government has the audacity to allow duty free racing cars at a time when it has raised the tax on a three-wheelers (the most favourite mode of transport of the common citizen), raised taxes on motorcycles, all cars below 1,000 cc (incidentally, the Tata Nano will cost 250,000 rupees more) as a result of the new tax structure. This new excise tax was not announced in the budget, but it is being implemented by the customs from November 9. A Maruti 800 costs an additional 200,000 rupees, a 4-wheel farm tractor costs an additional 500,000 rupees, a bus costs over one million rupees extra.

I am shocked and surprised that none of the so called mainstream business newspapers have reported on these new taxes that were raised without any formal announcement to the public. LBO too has been silent on this, probably they have been asked not to report these new taxes. I really don't care if the Andrew C and his ilk takes to the highway and have fun in their new single-seater racing cars, but why should I as a tax payer carry their burden.

Tourism argument: I am sorry, but I fail to understand the sports tourism argument of the race car lobby. India, despite its first F1 races, was unable to attract any racing enthusiasts to visit the country, but the new-rich bumpkins of Colombo seem to think that foreigners will flock to see them flaunt their (very often ill-gotten) wealth by way of racing Lambos. If you can afford motor sports, surely you can afford the tax on such cars. This is the same logic the government applied when raising road taxes by 1,500 rupees (This again is another conspiracy of the local media to hide these increases from the public). If you can afford a car, surely you can afford the road tax!

On the other hand a body kitted Mitsubishi Evo with a 'few' modification arrives at the harbor. How will our customs chappies know a fire breathing Mitsubishi Evo from an ordinary garden variety Mitsubishi Lancer? Hmmmmm……………

They are not planning on bringing down Lambo race cars anytime soon! Im fully aware that they exist. Its readers like you, that comment on subjects they don't understand, and are the same as a backseat driver.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Reiter_Lambo.jpg

We might as allow the import of Rolls Royce cars duty free because not many will import these anyway, and it will be good to show off these cars to tourists. Like the Burj al-Arab in Dubai, we can have a fleet of Rolls Royce cars parked outside the Galle Face Hotel.

Simply put, they are very basic Formula's and if you read my comment properly you will understand its cost and availability. The lifting of tax concessions does not mean a lot of revenue is lost for the government due to the single seaters being brought down. what part of that did you not understand? If they allow more concessions on reconditioned or hybrid vehicles, the loss in revenue is colossal.

You also do not have any idea as to the amount of people that did turn up to the Night Race last year, the fact that 29 camera's were in operation, that it was the biggest local sporting event ever broadcast on live television IN Sri Lanka and the most attended local event too.

If you still don't understand then send me your email and i will forward you the Media Briefing PDF with all the data verified and broken down. And once again you talk as if the whole of Sri Lanka will be 'Burning Fuel' in fancy race cars... do your damn home work before commenting! These are not fancy car's, there are only 200 SLAS approved racing licenses and not everyone drives a single seater/formula on the race track!!!

A refreshing dose of humour from LBO!
Welcome 1% economic to Sri Lanka.

I have a feeling that the real reason for this particularly amusing and head scratching tax deduction will reveal it self in time.

You can be pretty sure that's its not in the noble pursuit of encouraging the motor sports in Sri Lanka. I would be unsurprised if it's actually for the benefit of a select few in the upper echelon of power to import something special for themselves.

If it actually does work to help motor sport though, I would be extremely pleased though and be glad to eat a small hat made of cheese.

One cannot stick to the traditional methods in achieving economic development. We cannot rely on exports on tea, rubber, coconut and laced bras and jungis to make our country wealthy. We need to think out of the box. Open our minds to new and upcoming opportunities.

Sports, everyone knows is one of the biggest business in the country. And we are far behind our neighboring countries. Even India, where 50% of the population defecates in streets has a F1 racing track. What do we have? Not even a track suitable for bullock cart race.

With the expected influx of (my estimate is 1000 numbers minimum) high end racing cars, people will start building racing tracks. That will attract race organizers. Soon Bernie Ecclestone, CEO of FOM and FOA will visit Hambantota. Once the races started, we will have hotel built generating employment. And a whole eco system around races. Isn’t it better to have our girls working as sexy F1 Grid Girls than working 8 hours a day operating Juki machines?

Mr Suwendra also opened our eyes, how the machines could be used 24 X7. As he suggested we could generate much wanted electricity. It’s a praiseworthy suggestion to use cars for racing in the night and then use the same car for electricity generation during daytime. If we allow sufficient number of racing cars to import, we will be able to generate enough electricity for South India too. So Indian might even reconsider Kudankulam nuclear plant.

With the VAT concession for sportsman guests we will also see hotels and inbound operators promoting sports events. Starting next year we will see Carlton Football, Carlton Rugby, Carlton International, Carlton International Chess, Caroms, Netwball, Kabadi, Beach football, hand ball, softball, hand fight, kadu fight, chukgudu, polo, eleohat polo….Carlton International this and that. And we will all be able see these on CSN with the courtesy of SLT and Mobitel and SLIC.

We are on our way to be truly wonder of Asia.

I am thankful to LBO for publishing insightful articles of this nature.

Had this come from the UNP citing the same theory of a sports economy the 'colombians' and the 'trying to be posh crowd' would have not uttered a word !

The blogger talks of a Lambo racing car, which as far as my limited knowledge goes is actually a sports car. As an example the Bugati Veyron is the fastest sports car allowed on public roads.

However the McLarens and Ferrais in the F1 circuit are not allowed on public roads anywhere in the world (except when the F1 series goes to Monaco and Singapore where the race is held on the public streets).

Comments of Andrew C are interesting also. Wonder if he has been to the Yas MArina in Abu Dhabi where the recent F1 race was held. Over a 3 day period (1st - 3rd NOv) there was a major party for those who had tickets to the race with many international singers in attendance. (there were so many i forgot all who came like Kylie Minogue, Nickleback, Bieber, Eminem...)

Imagine Sri Lanka pulling off something like that LOL

Andrew C argues that 300,000 people turned up for the last Colombo night races and somehow that justifies the duty free racing cars. Sorry Andrew. The race circuit cannot accommodate that many people.

Let’s assume that 300,000 tuned up for the races. How did they travel? If they all used 40 seater busses (all packed to capacity) then there would be 7,500 busses entering the city. If they travelled in 10-seater vans, then the number of vans required would be 30,000. There was absolutely no congestion or traffic block except the ones caused by the closure of a large section of down-town Colombo .

Yes Andrew, that did cause great inconvenience to the public.

One of the excellent things that this government did was to remove taxes on hybrid vehicles. However, that decision was reversed very quickly and there is no incentive for going green. Now we have gone a full circle. The incentives are for people who burn more fuel in their racing cars.

The amount of money that these concessions allow on the single seaters is not a high amount. You couldn't do anything with it. A basic Formula chassis from India, used and of later years, will cost maximum two million rupees right now. With the tax deduction your talking around a million. That million into forty cars is a pinch of salt for revenue lost. Compare that with a tax deduction in any other trade and you have your numbers.

The amount of revenue generated per race meet, be it colombo or outstation, will be of a much greater value when more cars are available. Its the development of a Sports Section to generate profit and create awareness for the future.

This is very much like the concessions allowed upon cricket in the early 90's to promote and elevate the game. That led us to a world cup and more school boy cricketers being able to purchase equipment to better themselves. Did you also know that last years Colombo Night Race was the largest ever event in Sri Lanka covered on Television? 300,000 spectators was the number given.

That is data verified and proved. You can look at this in many angles but for those that don't truly know the costs, profit or development of a sport such at motorsport its easy to become a backseat driver. The gains of allowing this sport to become a mainstay outweigh the consequences in my opinion. Yes you can argue that other trades and projects should also have been a part of tax deductions etc etc but you cannot deny that for anything to develop in this country there has to be a start.

For motorsport, we now have a chance. Without being critical about everything this country has or is striving to be, why can't a concession such as this be given to a small fraternity? I don't see a problem or issue. Its people that want to make a fuss about everything that highlighted this issue and have written/said all over their status's without truly knowing a thing.

Directly from the treasury website for the 2013 budget. Article 29.1 "I also propose to exempt go-carts and specially designed racing vehicles from the applicability of the Special Excise Provision Act to facilitate the availability of such instrument for such sports events."

If that be the case, how does it hurt for private entities to bring cars that are meant for the sole use of racing to Sri Lanka under a tax reduction? It would certainly help develop a sport in a country that used to have a rich heritage in the said sport. Look at India, Malaysia and even the Philippines... they have as bad if not worse problems in healthcare, transport and housing.

Yet, they can boast International race circuits that hold many meets on a monthly basis. Do you see everyone shouting and screaming? Cars brought into those countries have a similar tax deduction plan for racing. You got to start somewhere to get anywhere. Criticizing all the time isn't the way to go forward.. must be a Lankan trait hence we go backward...