COLOMBO – Contributors to the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) who met central bank officials have requested that EPF, ETF (Employees Trust Fund) and pension funds be excluded from debt restructuring.
Trade union representative said they have instead asked to audit foreign exchange loss in international trade due to fraudulent invoicing and transfer pricing and recover foreign exchange hidden in offshore accounts, tax BOI firms to increase government tax revenue, cancel bonds owned by tax evaders and take over their deposits, and audit public debt while cancelling odious debts
Sri Lanka defaulted on its external debt in April 2022 after the worst deployment of ‘macro-economic policy’ in the history of the island’s soft-pegged (flexible exchange rate) central bank.
The central bank is the custodian of the EPF, an agency that comes under the Ministry of Labour, due to historical circumstances.
The unions say that a “genuine custodian” would consult EPF members before agreeing to re-structure bonds.
The government has said that EPF income would be taxed at 30% instead of the current 14% , if it did not agree to re-structure the bonds in its portfolio.
The unions say a majority of EPF members do not fall in to the 30% tax bracket, and it was not fair to threaten to tax the fund at that rate.
Moreover, EPF members have also paid tax on their salaries according to the applicable income tax laws.
Meanwhile the government has said that the EPF is guaranteeing a 9% return for members.
-economynext.com
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