President Ranil Wickremesinghe, presenting the 2023 Budget in parliament today (Nov 14), emphasized that Presidential Commissions will be set up to assess and make recommendations on public service and taxation aiming at increasing the government revenue.

Since there are around 1.45 million public employees currently working in various government agencies, a huge portion of the government revenue has to be spent on their salaries and wages, making it a challenge to allocate resources for other public purposes, including developmental purposes, the president said.

Thus, President Wickremesinghe proposed in the budget speech to appoint a Presidential Commission to review all the aspects of public service in line with the current requirements and make recommendations including necessary reforms.

The Head of State further mentioned that it has also become difficult to allocate resources for health, education and other important sectors as a result of the lower level of government revenue generated through taxes in comparison to other countries. 

Accordingly, measures will be taken gradually to increase the state revenue within the next few years, he added. 

In addition, the president proposed to establish a Presidential Commission on Taxation to study regarding the matter and make recommendations on the functioning, coordination and changes to be made in the tax structure, institutions, procedures etc. 

The relevant commission will also examine the requirement for setting up of centralized institution for managing government revenue.