28-12-2014 08:36 AM
Combined developments on Iraq, perhaps pay in the next year in 2015, to impose taxes on citizens for the first time, especially in light of the fall in global oil prices and increased military spending, and the losses inflicted on the organization of the Islamic state attacks the oil and gas sector and trade volume.
Detection and Finance Minister Hoshiyar Zebari, recently, for the start of his ministry and work to reduce the budget deficit in non-oil alternatives such as increased taxes and tariffs on goods
Entering the country, but that this pressure will not include medicine and food.
He acknowledged the Iraqi Council of Ministers, weekly, year 2015 budget, a $ 123 trillion Iraqi dinars ($ 107 billion) and the price of a barrel of oil to guess the value of $ 60, and referred to the House of Representatives for a vote, surpassing the 2014 budget, which spent without approval.
It is expected the new draft budget deficit of $ 23 trillion dinars ($ 20 billion), and confirmed member of the Finance Committee in the Iraqi parliament, Ali Mohamed, the Government’s intention to impose taxes on some public services and raise the government support them, such as electricity and water, and some oil derivatives and mobile phone services.
Mohammed said that the government will go also to increase tariffs on some imports, especially electrical appliances, in order to reduce the fiscal deficit to balance next year, expressing concern that the Iraqi slide poor and middle affected by those decisions.
Oil prices tumbled more than 48% in the past six months, and came down from the levels of $ 115 a barrel last June, to less than $ 60 a barrel transactions in December / this December, which means that the OPEC member Iraq has at least 190 million dollars per day of oil revenues, as production in the medium up to the limits of 3.5 million barrels per day.
He called Muhammad, the Iraqi government to think of other alternatives Kalaguetrad from international banks or the adoption of the bond sale system and transform state-owned state enterprises into joint stock companies to attract a lot of private sector investment.
A member of the Iraqi Chamber of Commerce, Falah al-Tayeb: Everyone’s worried about the steps that the government intends to do, it will be the only Valmtather employee and the laboring class of
Professions and trades owners who work daily wage.
He adds Tayeb: ‘with the continuation of the Iraqi dinar exchange rate unchanged against the dollar (1200 dinars to the dollar), the decisions that will lead to a rise in poverty in Iraq ratio, and thus the recovery and expansion of crime and social problems, which will be accompanied by such procedures scary rise in consumer prices.
State Committee for poverty alleviation in Iraq and said, in statements published in 2012, that 38%
Iraqi citizens at least live below the poverty line.
The total Iraqi population of about 33.4 million people. Government data indicate that the number of poor people in rural areas than in cities, lesbian, the Iraqi government and sets the poverty line based on the calculation of the cost of the basic food needs of the per capita of $ 34.25 thousand dinars per month.
Although Iraq spends about $ 5 billion a year on food distributed to the population, but the economic and social conditions and lawlessness, pushing millions of Iraqis into poverty.
For his part, said the Parliamentary Finance Committee member Masood Haider site ‘new Arab’, the deficit treatment can not come by throwing the ball in the court of the poor, especially that no one knows whether these proposals have been studied and consultation with with specialists or not .
Haider pointed out that the imposition of taxes and fees calculated as a proportion of total income for citizens, and its impact on the purchasing capacity of individuals, depending on their income levels, it is possible to impose taxes, duties on certain goods and services, but will lead to increased prices in the commodity chain and thus reduce the purchasing capacity of a pensioner who does not exceed his monthly salary of 400 thousand dinars, while high-income earners will be the impact on them is remarkable.
And criticizes the observers, the lack of the Iraqi government, to data on its citizens income rules, and that there are significant differences between classes of people, while the salary exceeds some ten million dinars per month, it seems millions in the list of unscrupulous income, which requires government intervention and restructuring of the salaries of citizens, according to observers.
He pointed out that the cancellation of one paragraph, expenditure items in the budget, give a yield more than this trend, such as the abolition of contact on Mobile granted to all officials of the Director of the Department or less and up to the highest levels in the state, or government vehicles operating expenses for personal purposes of the bill.
Haider said, that the real problem lies in the deficit, as the expenditure is growing day after day without
Control of the paragraphs, while oil revenues go down without treatment, due to the poverty of processors or the desire not to prejudice some expenses.
It is scheduled to discuss Iraq’s parliament this weekend, the federal budget for the state that the majority of its funds go to the ministries of defense and interior, as well as monthly and fund terrorism victims staff wages.
And calls for the President of the independent Integrity Society Firas al-Baghdadi, the government has to move away from what affects the lives of citizens and the search for the heads of corruption and parts and work on the restoration of Iraqi funds frozen out of the country, as well as reducing the salaries of members of parliament and the government, amounting to a monthly 20 million dinars (17 dollars) per person of them.
Masoud Barzani
Haider Al-Abadi
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