Iraqi Parliament Investigates Tax Increase to Make Up for ‘Deal of the Century’ Losses
Iraqi Parliament Investigates Tax Increase to Make Up for ‘Deal of the Century’ Losses
2024-07-20 03:29
Shafaq News/ The Parliamentary Economic Committee revealed, on Saturday, that information had been received indicating that the General Tax Authority had increased taxes on citizens in order to compensate for what it lost from the Deal of the Century.
The deputy head of the committee, MP Yasser Al-Husseini, told Shafaq News Agency that the parliamentary economic committee will host the head of the Iraqi Tax Authority to inquire more about increasing the tax rate on companies and citizens.
Al-Husseini added that the committee received information indicating that the tax increase would be used to compensate for the money the Authority lost in the Deal of the Century.
He said that the Economic Committee is proceeding with opening this file, stressing that after hosting the head of the Tax Authority in Parliament, we will have an opinion and report on this matter.
In October 2022, the “theft of the century” case was first revealed, involving former senior officials and businessmen, and sparked intense outrage in Iraq, which has witnessed widespread protests in recent years demanding an end to corruption.
The “theft of the century” became the talk of the Iraqi street, political circles, and others, until its echoes spread outside Iraq to be covered by Arab and Western media outlets.
The “theft of the century” is the disappearance of 3.7 trillion Iraqi dinars (about two and a half billion dollars) from tax trust funds, and it was revealed by several concerned parties about two months before the end of the term of the previous government headed by Mustafa Al-Kadhimi.
In mid-July (2024), Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani considered the theft of tax deposits, known as the “theft of the century,” a black spot in the history of the Iraqi state. He indicated that it was carried out with official cover, and revealed that half of its money was smuggled out of the country.
shafaq.com
