Tax breaks to push investments outside Colombo

Sri Lanka’s 2006 budget starts off on its new tax regime with a tax exemption for the island’s favourite pastime, cricket.









Sri Lanka’s 2006 budget starts off on its new tax regime with a tax exemption for the island’s favourite pastime, cricket. The Mahinda Chintana Budget gives a tax exemption for the 16 country under 19 world cup 2006 that will be held in Sri Lanka between January and February.

“All such international events will be exempt from tax in order to promote such events being held in Sri Lanka,” said President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s 2006 national budget.

The agriculture sector is also a lucky recipient with profits from “processing primary produce,” exempted from income tax, together with the removal of the 15% tax on income from the export of agricultural produce.

Health care, printing, gem cutting and polishing, packaging and rice milling industries will get exemptions on import duties on machinery and the depreciation allowance on plant and machinery will be increased to 33 1/3%.

Incentives are also lined up to create employment and push investments outside Colombo.

The governme