President’s quotable quotes on taxes and ‘red light’ tourism
President Ranil Wickremesinghe is quite well known for his quips and witty answers to change the mood of the discussion in a serious meeting or counter tough questions in a hard- hitting interview. Often, he is criticised in Parliament, too, for downplaying issues that are under critical debate. However, this was evident from the two engagements he had this week and how he tackled them.
He took part as chief guest in the Sri Lanka Economic Summit 2023, organised by the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, on Thursday at the Shangri-La Hotel. Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission of India from 2004 to 2014, also participated in the inauguration and gave a keynote address followed by a discussion.
During the panel discussion, the much- talked- about topic among Sri Lankans these days, taxes, came up, as did how the government was planning to meet the budget deficit with more tax reforms under the pipeline.
In his response, President Wickremesinghe put it subtly to recall that it was the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce that welcomed the tax cuts introduced by the previous regime. "Though former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa is being blamed for reducing taxes, all of you guys agreed to it," he said, indicating the chair and fellow members of the organisation who were at the event.
A bit embarrassed by the unexpected comment from the President, CCC Chairman Duminda Hulangamuwa said, “I didn't expect that answer anyway," while sharing a good laugh with the audience.
In a separate event, addressing the 58th Annual General Meeting of the Hotels Association of Sri Lanka ( THASL), President Wickremesinghe outlined the need to develop the tourism sector while keeping up with regional markets like Vietnam and Singapore and promoting our rare cultural identities and cuisine.
Stressing that tourism was not something new for Sri Lanka and even existed during the Anuradhapura period in the country, he said there were "red light" districts in the region targeting seafarers passing through the island.
"When you came by ship during one monsoon, you couldn't go back till another monsoon passed. So what do you do in between? In their own way, they worked out what tourism would be. I am not advocating for that at all. If I do that a whole lot of people will be picketing outside my office tomorrow, but I am giving you an idea of how they did it," he said.
When you came by ship during one monsoon, you couldn't go back till another monsoon passed. So what do you do in between? In their own way, they worked out what tourism would be