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Sri Lanka slaps `sneak` tax on whistle-blowers
Colombo, Nov 06: Sri Lanka today announced plans to tax informants who help the authorities catch tax-dodgers.
Colombo, Nov 06: Sri Lanka today announced plans to
tax informants who help the authorities catch tax-dodgers.
Under the new rules, the whistle-blowers themselves would
get entangled in the tax system.
Finance minister K N Choksy unveiled the government's
2003 budget proposing a 10 percent withholding tax on all
"reward payments to informants and others" who provide
information on black money.
A share of fines imposed on offenders usually go to
informants. Now a share of the reward money will be taken back
by the government as a special tax.
The "withholding tax" would automatically bring whistle-blowers into the tax net and subject them to scrutiny by tax authorities as much as those they rat on. In another unusual move, the government imposed a 10 per cent tax on all lottery winnings not less than $ 5,200. Lotteries are a virtual state monopoly.
Bureau Report
The "withholding tax" would automatically bring whistle-blowers into the tax net and subject them to scrutiny by tax authorities as much as those they rat on. In another unusual move, the government imposed a 10 per cent tax on all lottery winnings not less than $ 5,200. Lotteries are a virtual state monopoly.
Bureau Report