Wednesday, July 09, 2008

Where your taxes go (chep tea edition)

According to a reliable source at the University of Colombo faculty of law, a cup of tea at the University canteen is Rs.2 (less than $ 0.02 USD). He told me this just before purchasing a 100-times more expensive cup from Barista's.

It's bad enough we have to pay for their 'free' education. But cheap tea?? I want my money back!

More about taxes.

4 comments:

Leo Sadeepa said...

hi ,

true , there is a point saying thaat a cup of tea at the faculty of law is cheap. However there is something going beyond the economic face . There are many underprivileged people enjoying the facilities at the university . It's true that even the rich and wealthy students are enjoying these facilities. I am sure that there are many outstation students will be affected by the decision of increasing the price of the tea cup ...after all a tea cup is not a luxury ...besides the Barista comparison is not that just... only a fraction have the access to Barista's ...

Deane said...

Hi,

VAT means everybody pays taxes, including poor people. Why should some poor people subsidize others for something as trivial as tea. Tea is not essential for survival last time I checked.

Anonymous said...

well, tea helps you study harder. something about the caffeine. this 2 rupee business is a pity isn't it. i think it's really irresponsible for the authorities to have arbitrarily raised the price from 1.50 to 2 without also raising the Mahapola allowance. even the 1 rupee a side photocopy charges have been raised to 1.50. i think uni students need to organise a good old fashioned strike and block off all the roads around colombo. that might have the desired effect of cheaper tea and photocopies.

Anonymous said...

Well I assure you a cup of tea at Sri Lankan Universities is nothing like that at Barrista's.

When was the last time you got a broken finger nail in a cracked tea cup at Barrista's?

Every year or so, the University calls tenders for their canteens, and whoever offers the least price gets the deal to supply food and drinks to the students. In order to cover their costs, they then make sure that the tea is well worth the Rs 2. Served in a handle-less tea cup which was dipped in a bucket of water just before serving (that's to wash off whatever was left by the previous customer- saves water!) and served with a pinch of tea and a cup full of water and a few sugar grains. (milk tea is slightly higher in price)

And then there are student to whom this cup of tea along with a cold wade (probably cooked a couple of days back) becomes the only lunch affordable before running off back to work.