Sri Lanka, June 23 -- Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa has called on the Government to abolish the Value Added Tax (VAT) imposed on the publishing sector, warning that the tax and the current VAT threshold system have inflicted heavy losses on publishers and book importers while posing a serious threat to Sri Lanka's reading culture and knowledge creation.

He made these remarks during a recent meeting with representatives of the Book Publishers' Association and the Book Importers' Association at the Opposition Leader's Office in Colombo.

Premadasa said the tax burden was adversely affecting Sinhala, Tamil and English publications, hindering the dissemination of knowledge and creating challenges for preserving the country's literary an...