Mangala warned Lanka may become another Lebanon

During Wednesday's debate and approval of a supplementary estimate of Rs. 695 billion, some Opposition parliamentarians recalled how former Finance Minister--the late Mangala Samaraweera-warned about the proposed tax cuts introduced in the Presidential manifesto of 'Vistas of Prosperity and Splendour' back in 2019.

One of them--Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Parliamentarian M. A. Sumanthiran--recalled how the late minister warned that if those tax cuts were to be implemented, the country would become another Lebanon.

“Three years down the line, we find ourselves in a similar scenario.”

The TNA front liner also said the country needed to learn lessons from the Lebanon crisis as it was still struggling to cope with the crisis due to political instability--another challenge Sri Lanka was still trying to address despite Ranil Wickremesinghe becoming the Prime Minister of the Government.

Following the attention shed on the former Finance Minister's remarks, many Twitter users tracked what the late minister had said on the government's tax policies on his official Twitter handle back in 2019 and left responses of appreciating his concerns while bashing the current rulers. The account was inactive since his demise last August.

One of his comments on a newspaper advertorial by the 'Business community of Sri Lanka' appreciating tax policies of the Presidential manifesto goes like this: "Gota's tax plan wants to set #SriLanka on an Express Train to bankruptcy, default and a Greek style debt-crisis. VAT change alone equivalent to Health, Defence or Pensions budgets. #LKA certainly doesn't need advice from a PR agency conjured 'business community'."