PMMA-12029 Tax reforms in Sri Lanka – will a tax on public servants improve progressivity?

Abstract

Faced with budget constraints the Sri Lankan government entered an International Monetary Fund Stand-by-Arrangement (IMF-SBA) for USD 2.6bn in 2009. Along with this facility, the government has committed to raising the revenue-to-GDP ratio from 14.9 percent at present (2009) to 16.9 percent in two years. A recently appointed Presidential Commission on Taxation is contemplating taxing the, presently tax exempt, public servants in the country as a means of broadening the tax base and raising revenue. We hope to use household income and expenditure data to assess whether an income tax on public servants is the best means of raising revenue. We hope to answer this question by conducting simulation exercises to examine the progressivity of raising revenue using different taxing policies and comparing these to the proposed income tax using ‘welfare dominance’ techniques.


Members

Project leader: Nisha Arunatilake

Project researchers: Priyanka Jayawardena | Anushka Wijesinha | Nethmini Perera


Journal publication

No journal publications.


Working Papers

Title Modified Size Comments Recommendations
Tax Reforms in Sri Lanka: Will a Tax on Public Servants Improve Progressivity? 2012-12-03 1690.42KB 0 0

Policy Briefs

Title Modified Size Comments Recommendations
Impact of 2011 Tax Reforms on Tax Revenues and Income Distribution in Sri Lanka 2012-10-16 1045.5KB 0 0

Final report

Title Modified Size Comments Recommendations
2012-04-25 456.35KB 1 1

Proposal

Title Modified Size Comments Recommendations
Tax reforms in Sri Lanka – will a tax on public servants improve progressivity? 2010-07-05 303.63KB 1 0

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