Succumbing to heavy lobbying from the leasing industry, the Finance Minister on Tuesday allowed certain bus owners to be exempted from paying 15 percent value added tax.
Prior to January 1, all lease rentals in relation to public passenger transport buses (with 28 or more seats), were exempted from VAT.rn
rnldblquote That same law should apply to the lease rentals payable on or after Jan. 1, 2004 under agreements relating to such public passenger transport buses (with 28 or more seats) that have been bought prior to Jan 1, 2004,
dblquote Treasury Secretary, Charitha Ratwatte said in a statement.rn
rnThe statement did not say how the Treasury plans to make up the revenue shortfall as a result of backtracking on the proposal. rn
rn
-LBO Newsdesk: LBOEmail@vanguardlanka.comrn