AMMAN — Director-General of
Income and Sales Tax Department Hussam Abu Ali said recently that the department
collected some JD528 million in income and sales taxes in January; the total
for the same month last year was JD465 million.
اضافة اعلان
The 11-percent increase this year is
“clear evidence of the success of attempts to address the problems afflicting
the tax system,” Abu Ali contended.
According to economist Zyan Zawaneh,
"the successful improvement of the tax system is a marginal reason for
increasing the tax collection rate, but cannot be a major one".
Zawaneh believes that the beginning
of the year may have been a period of breakthrough after the closures of 2020
that left a mark on the economic situation.
The year, however, started with the
backlog of the previous year, he said.
“When Omicron appeared, government
actions and official and unofficial media discourse played a significant role
in raising people's fears. That, in addition to economic fatigue and confusion,
which is now beginning to appear clearly, attempts to establish projects, the
steady return to jobs. ... This all started to emerge suddenly as a result of
weak economic policies as a whole,” he said.
Zawaneh said that a follow up on the
first quarter results will make it possible to better determine the reasons for
the increase in tax collection, adding that “the first month may be too early
to judge the overall tax situation or the economic situation as a whole.”
Zawaneh does not expect a
significant improvement in the economic situation in the short term,
particularly since the government's policies regarding
COVID-19 are bound to have
an important, if indirect, impact on the economy.
Economist Mufleh Aqel said that one
of the reasons the amount of taxes collected in January was higher than in the
comparison month last year might be the fact that individuals attempting tax
evasion were prosecuted, and that statements and audits have been requested.
Aqel said that amount of tax
collection in January this year compares to that of other “normal” years, adding
that it is not right to rush to judge the results of the tax reform, particularly
after only one month, knowing that large companies and organizations that usually
pay their taxes early get a 6 percent exemption, which makes the numbers for
the first month seem higher than they should be.
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