‘Unregistered work fuelled by high taxes’

AMMAN — High taxation has led to the rise of unregistered work, according to a recent study by the Quds Centre for Political Studies.

Unregistered work accounts for 25 per cent of the Kingdom’s GDP, stated the centre.

Whether in tourism, construction or agriculture, unregistered work “depends on the labour of unregistered foreign workers or citizens who are willing to take the risk in exchange for a source of income”, according to Mahmoud Sarayrah, an inspector in the Public Security Department’s anti-random work department.

“When caught and asked if they knew their workplace or work procedures were illegal and unregistered, most reply with ‘yes, but we have been unemployed for a long time’,” he told The Jordan Times in a recent phone interview.

According to the study, almost 39 per cent of the sample “chose to partake in unregistered work because of strained financial situations”. Unregistered Jordanian workers made up 18 per cent of the workforce, while 50 per cent of foreign workers were unregistered.

The “high registration fees, taxes and foreign labour licences” were the main factors that led employers to keep their businesses unregistered, it stated.

“I am fully aware of the consequences of operating an unregistered commercial complex. However, I only lost my shop licences because I couldn’t keep up with ridiculously high taxes,” said a shopping complex owner, who preferred to remain anonymous.

He added: “I will have a huge problem to deal with if I ever want to sell the complex, because the accumulated taxes might be hundreds of thousands. I can deal with that problem later. For now, I have kids to feed.”