Frankly, I am shocked out of my mind at
these statistics in the article. If true, I am simply lost for words. It is a
clear indictment that the nation is headed for disaster, especially if illicit
alcohol is 40% of the total alcohol consumed.
Where is the police on this? Surely,
they must know the moonshine distilleries in their area, and are they simply
paid off, to look the other way despite all the protestations of the leaders
that they are concentrating on ridding moonshine? This is a social menace, as
the inputs going into the illicit brew fries the brain for want of a better
word.
Is there a long term breakdown of law
and order, as no one seems to care, when law enforcement clearly don’t want to
upset their gravy train. The clear breakdown of law and order is apparent, as
this kind of activity, while so prevalent only gets reported only because a
boru show is required occasionally to show that something is being done about
it, to a gullible public, little realizing it is just a planned hit for a rogue
in high places to earn some brownie points.
The smuggling of cigarettes that has now
reached epic proportions, is an added menace, as the state is deprived of
revenue, while the media is so full of “Johnny come latelys” crying about the
import of Chinese Brand Cigarettes fully duty paid, to offset this smuggling
racket indulged in by Chinese Expatriates, desperate for their preferred fags.
So no media explains the rationale for
the Finance Minister’s request, and just another boru show for the gullible
public by Leaders eager to earn some brownie points pretending they really care
about the health of the nation.
How much more of these smoke and mirrors
stories do we want to fed with? Everything is not what it seems, the truth
purposely hidden so the agendas of the crooks are permitted at the expense
eventually of the people who pay more for everything, and the state that loses
natural tax revenues, that they can
easily earn, instead of forcing consumption taxes on Sugar, Dhal, Potato, Onion
and Flour just to name a few essentials on the hapless public.
The need of the hour is to reform all
those paid by the public purse, who are enriching themselves, while not even
performing the basic tasks they have been assigned to do. While all this is
going on, much of this illegal income, is also spent on these vices, I have
mentioned, both buying taxed and untaxed Tobacco and Alcohol, in a circular
vice that is slowly strangling the nation.
As is very clear, the outcry is against
the Finance Minister who is asking for permission to import Chinese Brand
Cigarettes, as there is a massive Chinese Population, who are dying (leterally)
for these fags, and in other countries there are procedures to import anything
in demand, as long as the proper procedures and taxes are paid. So if there is
a problem with the CTC monopoly on cigarettes in Sri Lanka, then just pacify
them by increasing the Tax on these Chinese Cigarettes a little, as that will
both increase Govt. revenue while at the same time prevent eating into the CTC
revenue gravy train, and reduce the incidence of smuggling, which is now one of
the biggest businesses in Sri Lanka today.
Why or why am I stating the obvious,
when most of the nation is so ignorant as to what is going on in Sri Lanka.
They are of course ignorant because we have a press that is pathetic. They don’t
seem to want to inform the public, so the public can make up their mind on what
is right and wrong as well as what is moral and immoral.
One commentator on the link said that when
legal alcohol is so expensive it promotes illegal stuff. The issue is not that
it does not, if we have an effective policing then we can minimize moonshine
that is a health hazard killing the nation as a NCD of major proportions. However
the pricing of alcohol is another issue I don’t want to touch here, but his
sentiments are reasonable, where we must encourage people to change from high
levels of alcohol drinks to those with lower levels, like Beer and Lager, and
still ensure that the Government gets their fair share of revenue in the
process, by managing the taxing to maximize on return to the State Coffers. It
must be done in a way people don’t feel it, but where the state enriches. So
that having cops purposely looking for speeders just so that they can tax them
by giving Rs3,000 speeding tickets is an unfair way to tax, they should catch
errant motorists who are a menace on the road, not one who is speeding on an
empty stretch of road being no nuisance to anyone, just easy bait to a greedy
policeman.
There are many philosophical questions we
need to answer here, for which we don’t have any easy solutions. As you can
see, I am for a very careful analysis of these social issues to maximize public
policy for the public good. Students of public policy are faced with
theoretical problems, while I am directing my readers to the real problems of
the day.
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