1.7-3.5% tax on richest 0.5% can fund 50% of education Budget

Human Rights Watch estimates $ 450 m can be raised, equivalent to half of 2022 education Budget

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SRI Lanka could raise about $ 450 million annually by imposing a 1.7 to 3.5% wealth tax on the richest 0.5% of its population, according to a new analysis cited by Human Rights Watch (HRW) in its latest report 'Tax Giveaways, Struggling Schools.'

The rights group said the proposed tax, modelled on Spain’s “solidarity charge,” would generate nearly half the funding allocated to education in 2022.

It argued that decades of “tax giveaways” and widespread exemptions for corporations have drained Government revenues and deepened inequality, leaving critical sectors like education underfunded.

HRW said successive policy choices have left Sri Lanka’s tax system “regressive and inadequate,” undermining the State’s ability to meet its human rights obligations.