God Save Us All!!!

[Ministry]

I wonder if you have got news of what shocking new laws are being imposed

on us overnight by our wonderful, smart and so very thoughtful government???

In addition to suddenly announcing that all bank accounts which have not

been operated for over 10 years will be closed and the funds therein seized

by the Central Bank, and taxing us Rs 10 on every Rs 1000 we spend on our

credit cards ( which means that if we spend Rs 1001, we have to pay Rs 20

tax!) they have now announced that all tv channels which broadcast any

English programs will be taxed at the rate of Rs 90,000 per half hour!!

All TV channels have now stopped broadcasting all English programmes and so

we have nothing to watch on tv.except Sinhala teledramas.

The idiots in the government first said they were banning all tv Broadcasts

after 10 p.m. "because they wanted to induce everyone to go to sleep by 10

p.m."!! But that met with such an uproar that they quickly decided against

it--and now impose this ridiculous tax!

They suddenly shut down all cable tv companies overnight with no warning,

giving the excuse that they "had been operating without a valid licence"

all this time. Funny, because these companies have been operating for over

10 years, and openly advertise in the newspapers with full page ads etc.

How

come they just realised that these guys did not have licences???

This is the situation we are facing in Sri Lanka. Thank your stars you

Have

been fortunate enough to live overseas. We are speedily heading downhill.

All investment income is being taxed at 10% if your total income per annum

is over 108,000!! AS if anyone can live on this income of Rs 9,000 per

month--house rents alone are over 30,000 per month. The rupee is

depreciating rapidly with the USD now Rs 104 and the Aus $ RS 78.

War is looming on the horizon-- and here we are, caught in the midst of all

this, with crime rampant all over the place and even the armed forces being

accused of killing innocent civilians. Recently a young journalist who was

working with the CID was killed by them because he "knew too m,uch".His

body

was found with 3 bullet wounds in theback of his head in a lane very close

to where we live in Dehiwela. His mother has said that when he left home he

told her he was going out with his CID friends as they had just unearthed

some vital information.

Then there is the case of the innocent businessman who was beaten to death

after being arrested on a false charge of giving a telephone call to a

school warning them of an impending Tiger attack. By the time the poor

gentleman's wife obtained a statement of his phone calls from the phone

company and rushed it to the police to prove he had not used his mobile to

call the school, her husband was at death's door having been beaten

unmercifully. He died soon after.NO action has been taken against the

perpetrators. All it takes is a telephone call to the police about anyone

being a threat to the security situation-- and without any investigations

you are finished.

There are gangs going round robbing people of their valuables and even

vehicles at gunpoint. And all these things are happening in and around

Colombo!!

This is what Sri Lanka has come to. I do not see any glimmer even at the

End of the tunnel now, leave alone a light.

God save us all

[ash]

they have now announced that all tv channels which broadcast any

English programs will be taxed at the rate of Rs 90,000 per half hour!!

All TV channels have now stopped broadcasting all English programmes and so

we have nothing to watch on tv.except Sinhala teledramas.

I’m not with somebody or against, my honest opinion on taxation on movies/dramas.

As some TV channels claim, they don’t have to stop telecasting English movies because of the Rs. 50,000 tax. A 30sec commercial is Rs. 75,000 to 150,000 depending on the channel & the time, and during 30min movie/drams they show 12-20 commercials. Why do you think Si**sa still continue telecasting those movies and dubbed teledramas paying high tax, because they love us? It’s called profit maximisation in business language.

But the question is where or how this collected money goes in to.

[rman2000]

But the question is where or how this collected money goes in to.

Dude you sound as if TV stations are not supposed to make profits and the profits they make are being siphoned off ,how silly is that !

in a free market economy you should not have these restrictions,unless of course you want this country to end up like Myanmar or Laos!

[fuzzo]

her husband was at death's door having been beaten

unmercifully. He died soon after.NO action has been taken against the

perpetrators.

just to put your mind at ease, the guys involved in the beatings are in remand. don't know for how long but they are there.

[Hola]

Guys, read the sunday times, the new export cerificate will raise up car cost by 200,000.... Stock up cars soon!

[ash]

Dude you sound as if TV stations are not supposed to make profits and the profits they make are being siphoned off ,how silly is that !

in a free market economy you should not have these restrictions,unless of course you want this country to end up like Myanmar or Laos!

What I meant was, the collected money from this kind of taxation will most probably go corrupted with our political system.

Yes TV stations are supposed to make money like every business, no doubt about that. Why should they invest otherwise? I'm totally against these kind of taxes. I was just referring to the silly excuse that some TV stations brought up when this tax was imposed saying that it's not economically viable for them to broadcast after paying this tax. (which is not true)

[rman2000]

What I meant was, the collected money from this kind of taxation will most probably go corrupted with our political system.

Yes TV stations are supposed to make money like every business, no doubt about that. Why should they invest otherwise? I'm totally against these kind of taxes. I was just referring to the silly excuse that some TV stations brought up when this tax was imposed saying that it's not economically viable for them to broadcast after paying this tax. (which is not true)

Sorry dude,i have not intepreted ur point properly before replying earlier ,my humble apologies -

[ash]

Sorry dude,i have not intepreted ur point properly before replying earlier ,my humble apologies -

N/P bro