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Two sides of the same coin

Aug 15,2018 - Last updated at Aug 15,2018

Deputy Prime Minister Rajai Muasher has been conducting dialogues and consultations on behalf of the government with various pressure groups of people representing different shades of opinion on the projected new income taxation system, and has already sent a positive and encouraging signal to the country.

Most recently, Muasher has concluded that the existing tax legislation is not fair and lacks equitable balance. It is most encouraging to hear the government admitting right at the outset that the current tax system is all wrong and needs a thorough work over before it becomes right, fair and balanced.

This also means that the government of Prime Minister Omar Razzaz is on the right track in its bid to diffuse the widespread controversy about the existing tax system and open the door wide open for a new set of rules on taxes that could win wide support. This also means that the new government is quite close to the pulse of the country on taxes that most people view the current guidelines for it as unduly harmful and counterproductive to the health of the national economy.

Razzaz’s government has opened many doors already with the public and showed how much it wants to stay abreast of the legitimate concerns of the public. As has been often stated, the principal issues are the weakening economy, rising unemployment rate and the inflationary currents sweeping across the country. Jordanians have yet to hear about the governmejavascript:void(0);nt's plan to strengthen the economy beyond its open door policy on taxation. The public is waiting rather impatiently to hear about the government's new economic policy guidelines in order to uplift it to a new higher level.

The new government has been in power for well over two months and it is high time for it to come up with a new roadmap for the weakening economy beyond the conclusion that it needs a stimulus package. The new security threat is obviously preoccupying the attention of the government and rightly so, yet even the recent wave  of terrorism could be part and parcel of the general stagnant economic condition in the country.

What Muasher can be mandated to do in parallel to his current consultations on the new taxation system is to conduct similar ones on how to breathe new life into the national economy. The taxation system and the national economy are two sides of the same coin. Muasher is, after all, a seasoned statesman and an expert on both tracks. Surely he can do both missions.

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