Advocata’s Asks for Budget 2027

Priorities for Parliament

Budget 2027 is a chance to make tax fairer, lower cost of food, and free farmers and households from rules that hold them back. Here’s are the five changes Advocata wants to see.

1. Establish an Independent Tax Ombudsman. A Tax Ombudsman was promised in Budgets 2017 and 2025 but never delivered. Of Rs.2.16 trillion in tax arrears at the end of 2025, Rs. 1.68 trillion is classed as disputed, and interest on disputed balances rose from Rs.81 billion to Rs.278 billion in a single year. Taxpayers need a free, impartial route to challenge poor treatment, with binding timelines (Pakistan’s Federal Tax Ombudsman must report within 60days)
2. End the Port City tax distortion. Residential developers in Port City enjoy exemptions of up to 25 years, while comparable developers elsewhere pay the ordinary rate. The apartments are priced at around $500 per square foot, aimed at the richest 0.1% of households (about 6,000 families). Abolish existing exemptions on their actual benefits, fiscal costs and distributional impact, and stop granting PBSI status to real estate projects.
3. Fix how gaming is taxed and regulated. Drop lotteries as a revenue tool. They act as a regressive tax on low-income Sri Lankans.Bring online gaming under the same licensing, local entry fee and tax rules as casinos, and strengthen revenue monitoring of casinos.

   Abandon tax breaks for the Port City casino, which undermine competitive neutrality.

   Make the Gambling Regulatory Authority financially independent by channeling license fees to it and seek international technical expertise for regulation.

4. Lower the cost of chicken and eggs. Taxes make up Rs. 308 of the retail price of chicken, almost a quarter. Remove the Rs.50/kg Special Commodity Levy on imported corn (replace it with VAT), end import windows and quotas on corn, relax sorghum import restrictions, and introduce duty refunds for poultry exporters. If needed, support the roughly 35,000 registered maize farmers through cash transfers, not import controls.
5. Unlock the paddy sector.

• Accelerate Bim Saviya titling. At the current pace, giving freehold title deeds to nearly 2 million families would take about 100 years.

• Allow conversion of unprofitable Wet Zone paddy land to other crops.

• Redirect the fertilizer subsidy, free crop insurance, and the paddy price guarantee towards R&D, extension services, irrigation, subsidized premiums for private crop insurance, and credit for drying, storage and transport.

• Pass the Plant Variety Protection Act, enable PPPs and water accounting in irrigation, and adopt a national drone policy.

For the full evidence and sources behind each ask, see Advocata’s research at advocata.org