Spare senior citizen of new taxes

The new tax structure sounds frightening. Not being familiar with tax calculations, I don’t know where exactly we stand, but what I do know is like most other senior citizen, many of us live on the interest on our savings.Many of us live under similar conditions; our children have gone to more prosperous lands seeking a better future. Some of them have achieved their ambitions, while others have not, but their lives are on an even keel with a fairly predictable future. Almost all children abroad send money to their parents according to their means.

We senior citizens have an unpredictable future. Apart from vagaries of governance, we don’t know what kind of health issues we may have to face or how long we will live. So our savings are very important to us. They are our lifeline, our life support. I see the new taxes as though the government is pulling the rug under our feet. I saw no mention of relief for senior citizen in the news reports. I hope due allowance has been made.

If not, it is grossly unfair by a section of the population living frugally and not indulging in an extravagant lifestyle. Our parents encouraged thrift and practiced what they preached. If government taxes our savings to indulge in their pet projects, woe unto the powers that be.

Padmini Nanayakkara, Colombo-3