Budget 2027 May Finally Kill Duty-Free Car Permits for Officials — Believe It?

Duty-free vehicle permits for MPs, judges, and senior officials have been suspended since January 2025 under the IMF program, and the government has committed in writing to cancel the scheme properly in the upcoming 2027 Budget. The permits let officials import a vehicle without paying the taxes ordinary buyers pay in full, and the unused backlog alone is estimated to cost around 0.6% of GDP if ever activated again. One side says this is long overdue: why should the same import tax that pushes a family's Aqua past Rs 8 million not apply to the people writing the tax rules? The other side argues the permits were part of how the state compensates officials and judges instead of raising salaries outright, and scrapping them without any alternative just invites other forms of abuse. We've heard "this time it's cancelled" before, only for permits to quietly survive in some form. Do you think Budget 2027 will actually kill this scheme, or will it resurface in a year under a different name? If you've waited years in the ordinary tax queue, how does this debate sit with you? මේ වතාවේ හරියටම නවත්වයිද, නැත්නම් නැවතත් වේස්බවක් විදියට ආපහු එයිද?