Echelon Magazine - February 2024

In this issue

Rally for System Change!
Our cover story attempts to unravel a complex issue: our aversion to income tax. While ending corruption and waste is a priority, we are yet to address fundamental economic problems - problems that will make it harder to eradicate graft, mismanagement, rent-seeking and other forms of corruption.
How can we reset the economy with a clean slate? The best place to start is with personal income tax, a not-elusive yet ignored system change!
Our consistently poor attitude towards personal income taxes has contributed to the economic malaise. A 2009 Presidential Taxation Commission found widespread personal income tax dodging. Professionals such as doctors, lawyers, engineers, and academics, who have benefited from taxpayer-funded education, have often dodged their tax obligations, leaving the burden of direct taxes to be shouldered by productive private sector entities and individuals already in the income tax net.
Our fiscal problems are not solely due to government spending but are primarily a result of falling tax revenue, forcing us to borrow heavily to maintain an unproductive public sector workforce, bankroll loss-making state enterprises, and finance infrastructure.
It's time for us to step up and fulfil our tax obligations in exchange for responsible government spending, transparency, and good governance because most of us, one hopes, would demand (vote) for these and not for benefits, concessions and relief we used to expect others to pay for.

Echelon Magazine Description:

Intelligent Storytelling

The one thing that will define the Echelon magazine will be the quality of the storytelling. Echelon,published monthly, will cover in depth Sri Lanka’s most successful businesses, examine their winning strategiesand profile their leaders in immersive stories. Great stories are also never limited to words, and our approach includes rich photography, bold graphics and leading edge design which together will make for a compelling read.

But business doesn’t start and end in a boardroom;it extends to the golf club greens, to international travel and to pursuits that blurthe lines between commercial venture and sheer passion. The Echelon team will present the best in business and lifestyle coverage that will appeal to an exclusive and affluent readership: an otherwise hard to reach demographic.

Content will be developed by one of the most experienced and proven teams of editors, financial journalists, photographers and designers in the country.This team has already raised the bar for powerful and expertly crafted business news. Shamindra Kulamannage, will lead the editorial team.

The reputation of Echelon is being built on the separation between editorial and advertising. However we are also looking for the most creative and impactful new formats that can be applied in our magazines, iPad app as well as website to help our clients reach our audience. We are flexible and creative and we will have a solution for every single advertiser who wants to reach our audience.

We are passionate about creative results and about working with our advertisers to help them create bespoke multi platform creative solutions with our in house creative team and of course our sales team.

Echelon will be a great place to show off the products and capabilities of our clients because they will be surrounded by an editorial product that is expertly crafted, full of integrity and intelligence.