Damascus-Sana
The People's Assembly, in its session held today headed by Hammouda Sabbagh, Speaker of the Assembly, referred the draft law containing the state’s general budget for the fiscal year 2021 to the Parliament’s Budget and Accounts Committee to study it with the oral and written observations made by the Council’s members and submit its report in this regard to the Council.
Finance Minister Dr. Kinan Yaghi confirmed during the session that the government has numerous and many studies in its final stages, all of which are in the interest of improving the standard of living of citizens, and they will appear in succession, indicating that the government is seeking, in light of limited resources, to rationalize spending and raise its level of efficiency in all ways.
The Minister of Finance stated that the Ministry is working to improve and enhance the efficiency of tax collection and reduce tax evasion, which will positively affect the current revenue growth rate.
As for the deficit in the general budget between the Minister of Finance, the increase in current revenues and the reduction of the total budget deficit can be done through “modifying the tax system and increasing the efficiency of collection without imposing new tax proposals and enhancing tax justice in addition to the revenues generated in other sectors.
He stressed that work is underway on preparing a project for a radical amendment to the tax system, through which the transition to the unified income tax system will be issued early next year, as well as the transition to sales tax instead of the consumer spending fee, but this requires an invoice system, which is the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Internal Trade and Consumer Protection.
The Minister of Finance stated that the Ministry is strictly enforcing Law 24 of 2003 with the crime of tax evasion and that work is underway to sign a memorandum with the Central Bank of Syria to refer tax evaders to the Anti-Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing Authority, considering that tax evasion is a crime described in accordance with the money laundering and financing clause Terrorism, which allows the severity of the punishment imposed.
He pointed out that the Ministry had also, weeks ago, canceled and withdrawn the license granted to certified accountants as a result of submitting wrong data that allowed those charged with tax evasion, and it was circulated to all accountants that any similar case is duly seized, the accountant's license will be permanently canceled.
The Minister of Finance revealed that the real estate sales tax will be collected based on the popular value, i.e. the real value of the property, as a legislative instrument in this regard has been prepared and an electronic program to apply this tax according to the popular prices, which will positively affect the state treasury.
Minister Yaghi indicated that reserve funds have been allocated in the state’s general budget for job opportunities and that investment projects submitted by the ministries are discussed according to certain controls and are financed according to a specific priority hierarchy that matches the government's directions in the next phase.
With regard to the government statement not noticing any increases in salaries and wages, the Minister of Finance stated that when a future salary increase is issued, it will be covered by the reserve and the savings of some branches of the budget, and the Ministry is responsible for providing the required funding for the increase.
With regard to the performance of the Ministry of Finance and issues related to its work, a number of members called on the ministry to search for new resources, hold tax evaders accountable retroactively, grant facilities for opening and withdraw a bank account, and create a real estate bank branch in the Qardaha area, stressing the need for the support provided to state workers to include all segments of society, asking On the Ministry's procedures to strengthen supervision over the performance of customs patrols at road junctions and city entrances.
In response to the members ’questions, the Minister of Finance confirmed that there is a plan to increase bank branches in the governorates. As for withdrawals from the bank account, it is allowed to withdraw 15 million per day from the account, explaining that customs patrols on customs axes are legally entitled to stop cars to verify the source of the cargo and customs data. The ministry is also continuing to work on the new customs bill.
He emphasized that accounting in the issue of tax evasion has a retroactive effect. For any facility whose tax evasion is discovered, its records are audited for previous years, the evaders are accountable for the current business number and anyone who helps with tax evasion is held accountable, indicating that during the past months many tax evaders have been referred to the judiciary and collected. Tens of billions of Syrian pounds.
The session, which was attended by Minister of State for People's Assembly Affairs, Maloul Al-Hussein, rose to 11 pm on Wednesday.
Wasim Al-Adawi and the extent of Aloush