Fact Check: Misleading Claims About a New Commodity Levy Imposed on Various Food Items in Sri Lanka
දිනපතා සත්ය කරුණු දැන ගැනීමට අපගේ WhatsApp සමුහයටමෙතනින් එකතුවන්න. Sri Lanka has been navigating a challenging economic recovery following its worst post-independence crisis in recent years. In the aftermath of the Rajapaksa regime and the subsequent leadership of President Wickremesinghe, the government made some changes in the country's tax procedure. However, many have not welcomed […]
දිනපතා සත්ය කරුණු දැන ගැනීමට අපගේ WhatsApp සමුහයටමෙතනින් එකතුවන්න.
Sri Lanka has been navigating a challenging economic recovery following its worst post-independence crisis in recent years. In the aftermath of the Rajapaksa regime and the subsequent leadership of President Wickremesinghe, the government made some changes in the country's tax procedure.
However, many have not welcomed these decisions, which has led to an increased cost of living. The dissatisfaction is aggravated by the circulation of misinformation regarding prevailing taxes.
Let’s look at one such misleading claim, which stated that recently, new levies were improved on several food items.
Social Media Posts
Social media posts circulating claim that the Sri Lankan government has imposed a new and significantly high special levy on certain food items, including fruits, fish, and other species, starting from December 1st.
Even some mainstream media, like Daily Mirror, similarly reported this news, without additional context.
Fact Check
The information is based on a Gazette notification (number 2360/52) issued by the Sri Lankan Ministry of Finance on November 30, 2023. The gazette can be read from here.
However, a thorough analysis of the previous Gazette notifications and their connected notifications indicates that the recent notice was a continuation of an existing notice that was also effective in the previous year, with slight changes.
November 30, 2022:
As the finance minister, President Ranil Wickremasinghe had issued an Extraordinary Gazette notification under the Special Commodity Act, No. 48 of 2007. This notification enforces taxes on various imported items, including butter, yogurt, dairy, cheese, onions, oranges, grapes, apples, salmon, herrings, tunas, anchovies, and other seafood species.
The Gazette notification (No. 2308/17) can be reached here, and as seen below, the notification was valid for a period of one year, which ended on 30th November 2023.
January 04, 2023:
An Ex. Gazette notification revokes the special levy on Yogurt (HS Code of 0403.10) and Canned fish (HS Code of 1604.14 - Tunas, skipjack, and bonito (Sarda Spp)) with effect from January 05, 2023, related to the items listed in the previous Gazette on 30th November 2022. That gazette can be read from here.
We checked for subsequent notifications since then, and while there were changes to other food items, there were no changes to items mentioned in the Gazette notification (No. 2308/17) till the November 30th Gazette notification.
November 30, 2023:
The Ministry of Finance released a new Gazette notification (No: 2360/52). This notification re-imposes taxes on Yoghurt and Sarda spp (tunas, skipjack, bonito) and extends the special levy on other items listed in the November 2022 Gazette without altering the tax rates. The extension is effective until December 31st, 2024. The gazette can be read here
A comparison of food items related to the Gazette notification from Nov 30th, 2022, and 2023, respectively, shows that the items have also remained the same.
 |  |
| Gazette notification (No: 2360/52). Nov 30th 2023 | Gazette notification (No. 2308/17) Nov 30th 2022 |
The Ministry of Finance has also released a press statement refuting the claims and labeling them as false and misleading.
R.S. Samaranayake, a retired Commissioner of the Inland Revenue Department, explained that the extension of taxation is a routine aspect of tax procedures. Several years ago, Sri Lanka introduced a special commodity levy to simplify the tax process for certain imported items by implementing a single tax instead of a complex multiple-tax system. According to Samaranayake, the general percentage imposed as a special levy on imported items usually remains constant. However, what occurs periodically is the addition of new items to the list and removing existing items from the taxation framework.
Similar claims were shared in a misleading manner in 2022 and below is a fact check done by the Factcrescendo Sinhala team.
FACT CHECK: නව මුදල් ඇමති විසින් ආහාර කිහිපයක් සඳහා නව බදු පැනවුවා ද?
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Conclusion:
Contrary to the claims on social media, reports of a new special levy being imposed on a wide range of food items in Sri Lanka are misleading.
The extension of the special levy on other items is not indicative of an increase in tax rates, and for items like apples and grapes etc. instead is an extension of the same value from November 2022.
The only thing that happened was the extension of the duration of the prevailing special levy on those items until December 2024, while reinstating taxes on specific seafood species, including Sarda spp (tunas, skipjack, bonito) and Yoghurt which were temporarily removed in January 2023.
FACT CHECK: මහජන ආරක්ෂාව වෙනුවෙන් ත්රිවිධ හමුදාවට හදිසියේ බලය ලබා දිමක් සිදු වුවා ද?
Title:Fact Check: Misleading Claims About a New Commodity Levy Imposed on Various Food Items in Sri Lanka
Written By: Kalana KrishanthaResult: Misleading
