Newly-inducted Tourism Minister Alphons Kannathanam on Saturday justified the steep hike in petrol prices, saying that it would benefit the poor.
Adding that welfare would take money, he said that the government would tax people who could afford to pay them.
Who buys petrol? Somebody who has a car, bike- certainly he is not starving. Somebody who can afford to pay, has to pay.
He further said that these taxes would ensure that the poor lead a ‘dignified’ life, and that the “money being collected today is not being stolen.”
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