Value for tax money

The media appear to have labelled last week’s protests in Jordan as “the income tax law crisis” which, I posit, is an oversimplification. The draft income tax law was the spark that ignited the protests, but it does not sum up all the issues involved. So, I join all well-intentioned Jordanians in sincerely wishing Omar Razzaz success in the hard task ahead, and in taking a good look at what happened last week.

As one who works in communication, it is natural for me to focus first of all on the messages exchanged. For instance, the government gave many assurances that the income tax draft bill would not harm the middle class or the poor; but with each assurance the public became more convinced that the law would pauperise the middle class and famish the already impoverished. Also, when 80 parliamentary deputies promised to repeal the bill, the public was only convinced that these same deputies would be the first to support it.

This public scepticism is not gratuitous. When the outgoing Cabinet sought parliamentary confidence, 120 deputies promised to withhold confidence, and then, to a man, they voted to give their confidence. Moreover, when the price rise before the last one was announced, the government solemnly promised that there would not be another price hike until the end of the year. The rest is history.

In the absence of truthfulness, dialogue becomes an unadulterated waste of time, and as we saw, the executive and legislative branches of government and the official media have a credibility crisis. 

Through their persistent and sustained efforts, Parliament and the official media have made themselves beyond salvation; but the new Cabinet can earn the public’s trust, which needs to be its top priority. To be credible, the government needs to do more than tell the truth, it must also be seen to practice what it preaches. Officials must be seen to pay their taxes and to practice austerity before they enjoin the already emaciated public to do the same.   

Another lesson from history, is that the Arab world in general has just transitioned from the rentier model of “no taxation and no representation”, which had a good run until the 1990s when it became no longer sustainable, to the “taxation but no representation” model. To put this in its historic context, the Magna Carta was signed in 1215 to correct the “taxation without representation” model. Still, at least we know that the path to modernity and good governance, should we choose to take it, can hardly be described as uncharted.   

A final point is that taxation has many consequences. The government’s reliance on taxes is increasing and this trend is not transitory; it is the norm. But with this new reality, a new national identity has started to emerge. Young people no longer see themselves as subjects pleading for a gratuity. They consider themselves as the taxpayers who pay the salary of all public officials and, understandably, they want good value for their tax money.

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