In his statement, he said: “Didn’t the current government promise to reduce taxes when they came into power? What have they done? They have imposed taxes on onions, potatoes, lentils, sprats and Maldives fish. Today, they have also imposed a tax of Rs. 50 on sugar. The people who said they would reduce taxes have now imposed a tax on sugar as well. Ranil was speaking of taxes. Those who previously said they would reduce taxes are now imposing the “Anura tax”,” he said.

His statement can be viewed here: https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1FUgPHneqM/

FactSeeker looked into the claims of new taxes being imposed by the newly-elected government, and found various claims that had previously circulated on social media regarding the imposition of taxes on salmon, Maldives fish and lentils.

In this context, attention was drawn to statistics published on the website of the Ministry of Finance.

As mentioned by Manusha Nanayakkara, the newly imposed taxes include lentils and sugar. However, this is a renewal of taxes that expire after a year.

New report – https://www.treasury.gov.lk/api/file/4e7e4248-8e29-4ee0-8254-84e45380d3b6

Old report – https://www.treasury.gov.lk/api/file/4a7629af-034a-4938-b07a-cfdbfd5f2d3a

New report – https://www.treasury.gov.lk/api/file/0bad9fc3-fc71-4f9b-becb-d1a157275054

Old report – https://www.treasury.gov.lk/api/file/47a167ad-f3e8-4dd4-83fa-8017dae63242

It was also revealed that new taxes have been imposed on potatoes and onions as well.

The data table below includes tax impositions on essential items related to this statement.

Accordingly, FactSeeker confirms that Manusha Nanayakkara’s claims of tax impositions on sugar and lentils are those that have been updated after exceeding a year’s duration, and are therefore, misleading.