CCC, EFC in sleep mode as private sector employees take massive tax deductions

The watchdog of Sri Lanka’s private sector – the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce (CCC) and the Employees Federation (EFC) continue to adopt a deaf and dumb attitude in light of the massive tax deductions that have come to affect thousands of private sector employees from January 2023.

The CCC which generally refrains from unruffling the feathers of the ruling regime generally puts out a well-articulated press release on national issues but in this instance has failed to do even that.

As pointed out by a leading Management Consultant, the officials holding high positions in the CCC are more interested in forging their personal agendas and sometimes even their own business interest and nothing beyond. You cannot expect anything more from them, ‘these are mere old boys clubs’.

The EFC appears to be in sleep mode and needs a wake-up call on matters like this as they are all at sea and totally lost on national issues like this despite their entire membership being affected by these taxes.

This week we witnessed several protests from employees in the Government sector, banking sector, university lecturers, etc. against the high PAYE Taxes which have burdened citizens who are already reeling under skyrocketing prices.

The unofficial reaction from CCC and EFC appears to be that there is no purpose in such protests as ‘nothing is going to change’.

If this is the attitude of the CCC and EFC, the private sector needs to ask themselves, ‘why do we need to be members and why do we need to continue paying annual membership’.

A white collar private sector employee