Import Tax Slashed By 50%

[sonick]

that article says( in the island) the taxes are expected to be reimposed in november?

[SeanD]

that article says( in the island) the taxes are expected to be reimposed in november?

Political and business sources said that the reduction of taxes could be a temporary measure until the presentation of the next budget in parliament in November.

Could be, would be, is not equal to will be. I'm not even sure why they bothered putting that line in the article. I'm not doubting there is a possibility that this can happen, but why publish speculation ascribing it to "business sources" without naming who these seemingly well informed sources are? Perhaps they got it from members of the "permanent opposition" at Autolanka?

I watch SL news online from time to time, and there was a Central bank economist on ITN (I know) news saying this is just the first "positive step" in a series of the same designed to make SL an Asian "economic hub." I'm not sure about all that, but I wouldn't think reintroducing the taxes would help this cause. Like I said before, if the taxes are reintroduced then the joke's on us, but this sort of thing requires a lot of time and effort, and I highly doubt the government had much to gain by reducing them like that. Corrections welcome.

Edited June 4, 2010 by SeanD

[Gummybr]

$50,000! WTF? Do they all want bulletproof BMs and Mercs?

They have said that they cant even get a fully loaded double cab for that price ;p

[sonick]

hey, would the reconditioned,unregistered vehicle prices also go down?

[DevakaC]

Information with a source.

http://www.adaderana.lk/news.php?nid=8374

[Pericles]

They have said that they cant even get a fully loaded double cab for that price ;p

For 50? or for the older 35k?

They are clearly shopping at the wrong sites!

[shanX]

Despites the "peoples representative" DKGs theories on new members, there seem to be a fair amount of newly active ids. hmmm....

Most, are curious about used car market, after the revised import duty

[outlander]

I'd like to see an actual link for that chart, as I'm getting it via e-mail with no source, or a variety of sources "ascribed" to it. I can't actually find it anywhere on any stockbrokers website (or anywhere else)?

Come on man, what is with all the negative vibes here? And why does everyone try and shout down when something good happens in the country (not talking about you, Outlander). Are they that averse to change?

If the govt wants to bring down luxury vehicles with permits (which they have been doing for years, tax free...) then they will do it. No need to go through all the hassle of revising taxes and what not.

These changes have been a long time coming, even though the public only found out about it in the last couple of months. They are in line with what was recommended by the President's taxation committee. If they are only short term then tough luck, but lets not just create speculation without any basis in fact.

Cmonnnn mannn am not tryng to be - ... theres a rumor going around tht its for short term... Might not, Might be...

Better if its for long term, any way we ll wait n see... theres a budget on theway...

hope 2nd hand market will effected by the reduction soooooooon...

Edited June 4, 2010 by outlander

[outlander]

Very correct!

Typical Sri lankan middle class mentality== NEGATIVE

Not purely the fault of the people, but its what the environment has done to them...even something that looks good on the surface is looked at and analysed in all possible means to reach a negtive explaination..

As SeanD mentioned in his post, this is a outcome of discussions the business community has had over a period of time. In fact PBJ promised our company these changes somewhere in Jan 2010.

Think you should think twice bout highlighted above... as per my point of view, Class of the ppl actually dosent matter in this case...

Would like to know what the mesurement for devide ppls in to classes ? is it Money, Education or anything else ?

well if it is money i also might fallen in to middle class... believes tht its not fair enough to point one class is negative n another class is not... whatever the class is... - or + ness is depends on individual attitudes...

srry for moving out of track..

any way this cut off is having 2 sides...

Its good for someone who looking 4 buy a vehicle

and a nightmare for some one who recently bought a vehicle

am more than comfortable since sold my car month agooooooo...

[Chris0628]

Sold my car abt a month back.. going on a rented car now....Not having much hope this price reduction dream cos i'm sure the vehicle dealers will somehow find a way to screw us all

Sorry to be so negative...

By the way... i think the classes are divided according to Money .... so i'm in the middle class as well and i think the NEGATIVE comment is true...most of the time.... that's cos...

Lower Class : day to day battle for survival

Middle Class : wants more that what they can afford & can get it most of the time (Hence NEGATIVITY)

Upper Class : has enough cash to get what they want & earn more cash by investing...etc

[outlander]

Sold my car abt a month back.. going on a rented car now....Not having much hope this price reduction dream cos i'm sure the vehicle dealers will somehow find a way to screw us all

Sorry to be so negative...

By the way... i think the classes are divided according to Money .... so i'm in the middle class as well and i think the NEGATIVE comment is true...most of the time.... that's cos...

Lower Class : day to day battle for survival

Middle Class : wants more that what they can afford & can get it most of the time (Hence NEGATIVITY)

Upper Class : has enough cash to get what they want & earn more cash by investing...etc

if its cannot afforded its worth tryng than sit back n doing nothing...

thats courage i think

[sonick]

still the ads on autolanka quote same old prices!

would there b a vehicle shortage in the market, since ppl would be reluctant to sell there vehicles? or would ppl be quating the same old prices? time would tell!

[sonick]

by the way. i think the negativity is a self defence mechanism..to make urself happy ,if things do not work fr u..but if they do, wrk fr u..it ends up as a bonus and makes u happier!

[outlander]

by the way. i think the negativity is a self defence mechanism..to make urself happy ,if things do not work fr u..but if they do, wrk fr u..it ends up as a bonus and makes u happier!

nice one .... the possitive side of negativity....

Heard that hav to be in a list now if wanna buy a Maruti ....

when the Bnew vehicles freely available in the market and the tax reduction is 100% effected, then the 2nd hand market will go down....

BTW no one will be happy to sell their vehicle very very far below their purchase price.... hope it will take some time to see reduction in 2nd hand market....

wht u think guys

[nissmoz]

What ever the reason for the Tax reduction. I'm sooooooooooo happy.

I'm buying my NEW (2007) skyline. (G-35).

still negotiating with the dealer in japan for the final price.

Yet need to double check the final Tax with customs before I place the order.

[Gummybr]

For 50? or for the older 35k?

They are clearly shopping at the wrong sites!

For the older, i think that article was in the Sunday Times.

[Ripper]

What ever the reason for the Tax reduction. I'm sooooooooooo happy.

I'm buying my NEW (2007) skyline. (G-35).

still negotiating with the dealer in japan for the final price.

Yet need to double check the final Tax with customs before I place the order.

super car! and good luck with it

do upload a few pics when you get here down

[shanX]

What ever the reason for the Tax reduction. I'm sooooooooooo happy.

I'm buying my NEW (2007) skyline. (G-35).

still negotiating with the dealer in japan for the final price.

Yet need to double check the final Tax with customs before I place the order.

Could import cars older than 3.5 yrs? Or you have some permit i assume

[nissmoz]

Could import cars older than 3.5 yrs? Or you have some permit i assume

It is less than 3.5 years. Date of first registration was in early 2007.

[shanX]

It is less than 3.5 years. Date of first registration was in early 2007.

Ouch, my math was wrong, soryy lol

[Rebel]

Hey guys.

About the second hand market. Guess the first sort of effect will be the cars at the higher end of the spectrum. For example. two months ago when I was car hunting a 2005 vios was 3.2 at Dhammika motors. Now if the price comes down by even 3-5 lakhs, the second hand value of earlier vios's will be effected right? But I guess it will depend on the elasticity..

Absurd prices on the ads. 4.8 for a 121!! And 2.15 for a 99 ViRS??

[xXx]

Well there are a few who blame the govt for everything whether good or bad. When there is nothing to say they at least try to say that something is done for the benefit of govt personnel. That why there are some negative comments. When the govt increases duty they complain and when the govt decrease duty also they complain. They are called the "opposition"

I’m sure (hope) you used the word 'opposition' to add some humour to your post. It is important to scrutinize the pros and cons of actions instead of nodding you head and saying 'Yes Sir' all the time. Unless you have completely isolated yourself from Sri Lankan politics regardless of who's in power i don't see anything wrong in doubting actions of a ruling regime (again regardless of who's in power).

A good example is how prices of essential goods magically freeze or come down during election time. We are so used to this kind of adhoc policy making that has done no good for the country nor its people in the long run. IMO it is perfectly acceptable to be pessimistic on the recent import duty restructure specially when you take into account the fact that it was introduced at a time the government refused to present a budget for this year. If they are so keen to give relief to people they could have done that systematically across the board covering all areas (not just one industry) by tabling a budget.

These changes have been a long time coming, even though the public only found out about it in the last couple of months. They are in line with what was recommended by the President's taxation committee. If they are only short term then tough luck, but lets not just create speculation without any basis in fact.

Machang over the years we have seen our fair share of committee’s been appointed under this regime but nothing has come out of them. All party representative committee headed by Tissa Witharana, Electorla reform committee headed by Dinesh Gunawardana, Udulagama Commission on HR abuse, COPE report under Wijedasa Rajapaksha and the list goes on. All these commissions went to the extend of handing over their findings and recommendation to his excellency but unfortunately none were put into practice. Therefore it is not unreasonable to have doubts about the new reforms despite it's been recommended by a fancy committee.

As SeanD mentioned in his post, this is a outcome of discussions the business community has had over a period of time. In fact PBJ promised our company these changes somewhere in Jan 2010.

Lot of people said lot of things during that time (January 2010) and don't we all aware of PBJ's antics. He's just another government puppet only difference is in contrast to others he's a very smart puppet.

[SeanD]

Machang XXX, I don't disagree with what you're saying (I am not exactly the world's biggest fan of any politics in SL - I happened to be looking at some very old posts of mine, where I was condemning the government taxes on cars, and some of you guys were telling me to stop criticisizing), but there is a difference between recommendations being made and nothing done about it (normal scenario) and permission being officially given to announce it (prior to gazzetting, of course).

That's the key difference in this scenario. There are doubters for everything, and in many cases this is not uncalled for, but the kind of fault-finding, nitpicking and negative outlook shown without any justification is what upsets me sometime. It's a lot easier to make people pessimistic and cynical than to make them optimistic. I don't think anybody can claim in this instance that this is election propaganda (we don't have any elections coming up), or that MPs are going to benefit from this (they are not too happy right now). I also have nothing to gain from this personally, as I'm not in the market for a car, nor will I be for years to come.

But I feel that this kind of pessimistic attitude will soon result in so many people being so averse to any change (for the good) that there will be no real pressure for the politicians to make any changes that benefit us after all. It might be a fair assumption that pressure by car dealers was one reason at least, for this reduction. If we keep contributing to this "aney apoi monawa karannada bung" mentality (which all of us are prone to in some way or another), we'll actually play right into the politicos hands and not stop them from getting away with whatever the hell they want to. We'll also be so busy looking at the trees and missing the forest, that we're just going to repeat the same mistakes we made during our so called "golden era" just post-independance.

While people have the right to be skeptical, I also think likewise some of us have the same right to be optimistic. And maybe we'll be proven wrong, but you never know...maybe not!

Edited June 5, 2010 by SeanD

[mahil]

I want to send mazda RX8 (2008) from UK.can anyone find out how much it will cost to import tax pls

Edited June 5, 2010 by mahil

[VWvortex]

General suggestion (and not targeted at any specific person) - How about keeping the little political devils inside us quite and commend whatever positive action taken that benefits the masses….forget the montero's and prado's that people are dreaming about!...I would like to see 4 member families on 50cc bikes, being able to afford 4 wheels...

Not that something good comes our way often right ? Hope these taxes can be brought down further!