Sri lanka cuts bank taxes but hikes tax on stock trading

Sri Lanka has cut a series of taxes on banks in a bid to increase banking activities, but raised a tax on stock trading, President Mahinda Rajapaksa said presenting the budget for 2011 in parliament.

A debit tax on withdrawals from banks would be lifted and a so-called financial value added tax would be cut from 20 to 12 per cent, Rajapaksa said. 

Sri Lanka overhauls telecom taxes

Sri Lanka has changed the taxes for telecommunications services and also imposed regulatory licence fee of 2 percent of revenues. While high tech telecommunications equipment imports will not be charged VAT, the government has imposed a LKR 2 per minute tax on outgoing calls. The 20 percent tax replaces the VAT, a mobile subscriber levy, and an economic service charge, The Lanka Business Online reports.