Amman – the compass

Writer Hussein Al-Rawashdeh called on the Jordanian state to impose taxes on wealth and profits as one of the quick solutions that could save the treasury hundreds of millions, stressing that, with a quick calculation, a progressive tax of only 2% can be imposed on those with few millionaires, and 3% on those who own more than 50 million dollars. , and 5% for billionaires, to provide liquidity of $ 640 million annually.

Al-Rawashdeh stressed the necessity of imposing “taxes on wealth and others on profits, recovering some of what was looted by the corrupt, real curbing all kinds of corruption resources, and awakening the consciences of some of those who own and do not spend or donate, to fill the Jordanian treasury,” stressing that the government must recover The money owed to the treasury is whether “in Ain al-Hamra or Safra, there is no difference, and this can be done with a political push of a button,” as he put it.

A tax-fair recipe

In turn, the economic expert, Muhammad al-Bashir, confirmed in his statements to “compassWhat the writer Hussein Al-Rawashdeh went to in the file related to the tax file and what the state can earn for the benefit of the treasury if a fair description of the income tax is applied so that it is a “progressive tax” and its reflection on solving the problems of poverty, unemployment and other chronic economic problems.

Al-Bashir said, “This is what I repeatedly spoke about tampering with the tax file, the absence of the income tax, and the generalization of the sales tax horizontally and vertically, which led to an increase in poverty and indebtedness of individuals, and an increase in the profits of the rich instead of imposing a tax on the rich.”

He pointed out that “the treatment lies in reducing the sales tax and escalating the income tax so that those with high incomes pay more and those with lower incomes always pay less.”

Solutions to the suffocating economic crisis

For his part, writer Hussein Al-Rawashdeh said in his article in Al-Dustour newspaper: Our country is suffering from a suffocating economic crisis. Do we stand idly by, or are we looking for solutions? Certainly we want a quick solution. I do not mean establishing major projects, extracting natural resources, or bringing in investments from abroad. This requires deep dialogue and a long time. I do not mean, of course, imposing more taxes and raising prices on citizens. So, how do we act?

He added, “Please, I have a quick and proven recipe as well. During the past two years, a number of Jordanians (55 people) have accumulated a fortune estimated at $14 billion, which is four and a half times what half of Jordanians own, and in the details – according to Oxfam International – We have two people in Jordan who own wealth that exceeds what four million Jordanians own, and we have 53 Jordanian families, each of whom has an estimated wealth of more than 50 million dinars, and 990 Jordanians each of whom owns 5 million dinars or more, with a total wealth estimated at $20.3 billion. While 50 families are on the list of the richest in Jordan.

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Al-Rawashdeh continued by saying: Simply put, we can take two paths in dealing with the owners of these billions: the first is a fair settlement, through which they present to the treasury what they owe in terms of taxes and others, without entering into the accounting floors and the issue, and without causing any harassment to them, we want the state’s share of them With conviction and satisfaction, just as others did in countries near and far, the second is for monitoring and follow-up institutions to move to inventory the accounts of these people, to verify the sources and size of funds, and then use the law transparently to extract the state’s right from those who evaded paying what they owe, and hold them accountable for that.

The initiative of the rich as one of the solutions

The writer added, I was, of course, hoping that its wealthy would take the initiative, with a patriotic motive, to help their country overcome the economic crisis it is going through, or that the “Waqifs” would rise to build hospitals and schools, and provide the necessary services to their poor and needy brothers, but it seems that many of these The well-to-do have refrained from carrying out this duty (don’t ask why?) and therefore it has become the state’s right and duty to take from them, by law, what they did not willingly offer.

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Al-Rawashdeh added, however, by saying: If we assume that the billionaires to whom I referred, previously, are not included in the lists of corruption and its suspicions, meaning that their money is legitimate, and that they obtained it through their efforts and toil, then there is another class of corrupt people who looted or influenced at the expense of public money, money People, these people must recover what they stole, with a red eye or a yellow eye, there is no difference, and this can be done with a political push of a button, knowing that our country ranked 58 out of 180 countries on the global corruption index (it got 49 degrees out of 100 last year), and the amounts Collected from corruption cases, in the past ten years, does not exceed half a billion dinars.

A 2% tax saves hundreds of millions

And he continued his speech by saying: Imagine, with a quick calculation, that a tax of only 2% on those with few millionaires, 3% on those who have more than 50 million dollars, and 5% on billionaires, can save the Jordanian treasury 640 million dollars annually, these taxes – supposed – According to the director of departments’ offices in Jordan (Nivedita Monga), spending on the health sector will increase, for example, by 42%, or the equivalent of two-thirds of the rate of budget deductions (one billion dollars).

Al-Rawashdeh concluded by saying: In short, taxes on wealth and others on profits, recovering some of what the corrupt have looted, real curbing all kinds of corruption resources, and awakening the consciences of some of those who own and do not spend or donate, are sufficient to fill the Jordanian treasury and restore health to it, and there is no need after that to raise Prices, or the imposition of new taxes, or waiting for aid, which will not come, from brothers or friends, but the most important question: who moves to do this, and who dares to dig up the “hornet’s nest” on the one hand, or convince the wealthy Jordanians that their country needs its known right from their money Which they stacked in the banks? The answer is that you do not need to ask a friend for help.

Also read: An economist told Al-Bawsala: Fighting inflation requires reducing taxes and increasing purchasing power

(compass)