{"id":66220,"date":"2017-05-17T16:02:26","date_gmt":"2017-05-17T23:02:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=66220"},"modified":"2017-05-17T16:02:26","modified_gmt":"2017-05-17T23:02:26","slug":"vehicle-permits-cost-16000-housemaids-and-tax-avoided-thereon-another-16000","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2017\/05\/17\/vehicle-permits-cost-16000-housemaids-and-tax-avoided-thereon-another-16000\/","title":{"rendered":"Vehicle Permits Cost 16,000 Housemaids and Tax Avoided Thereon Another 16,000"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dilrook Kannangara<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n

Our thanks go to Nagananda Kodithuwakku for taking up the vital matter of vehicle permits to MPs. As he correctly points out, there is no law, constitutional provision or parliamentary approval for allowing vehicle permits to MPs. Customs Act allows the minister in charge of finance to allow a duty waiver for the benefit of the people and the nation. Allowing vehicle permits to MPs is not in the best interests of the people or the nation. This is a fraud by another name<\/p>\n

What happens is, politicians borrow money to do their election campaign. Based on the value the permit sold, it can be estimated that each MP spends 35 million rupees for an election. However, this is only the successful ones. Others too spend money. After electing to parliament, they sell the permit, get the money and settle their election dues. It is a double whammy. The country loses foreign currency to the tune of 35 million rupees as the cost of the vehicle (which would not have been purchased if fully priced) and the duty waiver which is equal to the value of the vehicle (35 million rupees). Assuming a housemaid\u2019s monthly earnings including the cost of plane tickets to be 40,000 rupees, it takes the sweat and blood of 16,000 of them for a year to pay for vehicles and another 16,000 for a year to pay for the duty waived and lost to the nation.<\/p>\n

Vehicle permits to MPs are such a disgusting and immoral manipulation of the system. This practice must be stopped. MPs must find their own transport and use the generous monthly allowance for travel to finance their whatever mode of travel.<\/p>\n

A criticism of this approach is that poorer politicians may not be able to compete with rich politicians. That is true. However, it is criminal and immoral for the nation, its vulnerable people and state revenue to finance their parliamentary entry. Rich politicians also get back the money as they too sell or use their vehicle permits.<\/p>\n

There was a no confidence motion against the Finance Minister last year. Stated reasons included the central bank bond fraud, incompetence and irregularities. However, there was a more pressing reason for MP to bring a no confidence motion against him and terrorize him into submission. In 2015, he boldly proposed to stop the vehicle permit fraud. Needless to say indebted MPs found it unpalatable. However, since then they have been showered with vehicle permits. If he succeeded in stopping this immoral practice, he sure deserves to be the best Finance Minister in Asia.<\/p>\n

Vehicle permit racket also sheds light on the colossal amount of money election candidates waste. Going by the excuse of using the proceeds to payoff loans obtained to run their election campaign, each candidate spends 35 million. However, those who have no chance of getting elected spend much less. On average, it is fair to say there is another defeated MP for every successful MP. This means 15.75 billion rupees ($100 million) are wasted by candidates at an election. Ultimately, people foot the bill as no politician has ever gone bankrupt! If the practice of vehicle permits ends, election spending will drastically reduce.<\/p>\n

It was also reported that Nagananda Kodithuwakku faces death threats. It is very much understandable. He is up against a racket worth 15.75 billion rupees and the very survival of corrupt politicians who are no strangers to contract killings, mass murder and even crimes against humanity. Protecting him is protecting poor housemaids, their dependents and the nation that survives on their sweat and blood. Is it any surprise there aren\u2019t any to take up this challenge! If Nagananda can enter parliament and hold the finance portfolio, the nation will enormously benefit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dilrook Kannangara Our thanks go to Nagananda Kodithuwakku for taking up the vital matter of vehicle permits to MPs. As he correctly points out, there is no law, constitutional provision or parliamentary approval for allowing vehicle permits to MPs. Customs Act allows the minister in charge of finance to allow a duty waiver for the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-66220","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dilrook-kannangara"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66220","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66220"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66220\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66220"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66220"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66220"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}