Unions of professionals are gathering in Colombo this afternoon (22) to protest against the new tax policy introduced by the government.
The main demonstration takes place in front of the Fort railway station from noon, said GMOA media spokesman Dr. Chamil Sanjeewa.
Members of more than 40 TUs of professionals will take part to demand a reasonable tax policy, he said.
Secretary of the Lanka bank employees union Ranjan Senanayake said the government was yet to properly respond to their repeated call for a withdrawal of the taxes.
Leaders of unions affiliated to university lecturers and electricity engineers also spoke about the planned protest.
President calls tax revisions a ‘rescue operation’
Just yesterday, president Ranil Wickremesinghe called the recent tax revisions a ‘rescue operation.’
Delivering the keynote speech at the Tax Forum 2023, he said “This is not a normal taxation exercise. It’s a rescue operation.”
With regard to the bailout Sri Lanka currently awaits from the International Monetary Fund, he said that if this process is disrupted, Sri Lanka will not be able to join the IMF programme and may lose the opportunity to do business with foreign countries.
