Finance and Media Minister Mangala Samaraweera challenged Kurunegala District MP Mahinda Rajapaksa yet again to a public debate on the country’s current national debt stock and economic situation.
He made this challenge while commencing the debate on the five notifications under the Excise Ordinance in Parliament yesterday (07).
Samaraweera said that Mahinda Rajapaksa was following Goebbels' theory to discredit the government while propagating misinformation with the help of lackeys.
“Goebbels once said that if you repeat a lie continuously, it will ultimately become the truth. Rajapaksa is following the same theory to discredit and tarnish the government. It was his government that employed fascist ideologies. He claims that the cost of living has increased.
It is good. At least now he is taking note of the cost of living since during his presidency, he ate off of the people’s money. His lackeys, too, are spreading the same lie. However, he is yet to respond to my challenge to a public debate the country’s national debt stock during now and the at the time he was President”, Samaraweera added.
Reducing taxes by 20%
Referring to Rajapaksa’s statement where he said he will reduce taxes by 20% if he attains power, Minister Samaraweera charged that such claims are unrealistic.
“Though he is promising to reduce taxes by 20%, during the Rajapaksa regime, the public was burdened with over 80% of the indirect taxes placed on them. Furthermore, he has not even presented a mechanism to reduce taxes. Rajapaksa should know that prices of many food items are still lower than it was during his time”, Samaraweera said.
Finance Minister stated that the current government wishes to reduce VAT by 2.5% before 2020.
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