SINHALA INHUMAN ACT TOWARDS HELPERS OF HELPLESS/ VOICELESS/ POOR TAMIL IDPS WHO ARE VICTIMS OF SINHALA RACISM/ OPPRESSION/ GENOCIDE..!!!

Tax imposed on funding of international aid groups

The new tax regime was unveiled in 2006 but not enforced immediately. Most agencies did not comply, as they hoped to persuade the government to change it, according to aid groups. In the past year, however, the government has grown increasingly hostile towards foreign aid groups and Western donors, accusing many of sympathizing with the Tamil Tiger rebels, who were defeated in May.
It has started to insist that local and international non-governmental organisations (NGOs) should pay the 0.9 per cent tax on all their funding — backdated to 2005. That could amount to several million pounds, as there are at least 89 such international and local organisations in Sri Lanka, mostly helping victims of the 2004 tsunami and the 26-year-old civil war that just ended.

They can apply for remittances if they can prove that funds were spent directly on humanitarian relief, rather than training or staff costs, in areas specifically approved by the government. However, they are having varying degrees of success, with one international body being forced to pay out $320,000 (£196,000) under the new rules. It is still negotiating its tax bill for 2007-09.

The government says that the tax is designed to crack down on NGOs that abused Sri Lankan law and squandered their funds on their own staff after the tsunami. Aid workers, however, say the new rules do not grant tax exemption for all the work they are doing — and want to do — to help 300,000 Tamil refugees in army-run camps. Some say the tax contravenes the international disaster response guidelines drawn up by the Red Cross in 2007 with the participation of 140 countries, including Sri Lanka.

Save the Children Fund, which received about £35.6 million in Sri Lanka between 2005 and 2009, was originally asked to pay about £350,000 in taxes for the period 2005-09, according to its accounts. It has negotiated that down to about £20,000 for 2005-07, and is still negotiating the tax bill for 2007-09, sources said.

Others have been less successful in their negotiations, mostly because Sri Lankan authorities said that they did not have the correct paperwork. World Vision, the US-based Christian relief group, has paid $120,000 for 2005-06, and made advance payments of $200,000 for the following three years, according to its accounts.

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