Saturday 31 January 2015

'Mansion tax' plan yet to be formulated

Deputy Minister of Policy Planning and Economic Affairs Dr. Harsha de Silva has said that a criteria to charge the 'Mansion tax' is yet to be formulated. In the interim budged presented on 29th January a new tax, dubbed the 'Mansion tax' of 1 million Rupees per annum was introduced on homes worth more than 100 million Rupees (1000 lakhs) or with an area greater than 5000 square feet.

The Deputy Minister further said that this tax is aimed at "those who built luxury houses in the recent past in Colombo" and "not for villas that were built in the past that have been passed down the generations". He further went on to add that "though there are large houses, sometimes the retirees who live in those houses don't even posses 10,000 Rupees, let alone 1 million Rupees" and that these situations will be taken in to consideration when formulating the plan. 

The Deputy Minister went on to add that "we're also hoping to come up with a system that will charge the million rupees in a just manner with a feasible plan".

Meanwhile, the Minister of Finance Ravi Karunanayake speaking on the 30th of January further clarified the 'Mansion tax' by saying that the tax will "not apply to apartments except Penthouses". He also said that "This tax is for those houses that came up within the past five to six years" and that they are still working on the definition for the 5000 sq. ft. rule. 

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