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Jordan withdraws tax bill after angry protests
AMMAN, June 8, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Jordan’s new prime minister on Thursday
announced a controversial IMF-backed income tax bill will be withdrawn, after
it sparked a week of angry protests in the kingdom.
Crowds have taken to the streets to demand the government drop the
unpopular reforms, in some of the biggest economic protests to hit Jordan
over the past five years.
But Jordan’s capital Amman was quiet Thursday night, with only 100 people
returning to the main protest site near the prime minster’s office, according
to an AFP photographer.
Doctors, lawyers and teachers had staged a strike across the country
Wednesday as discontent over high unemployment, poverty and price rises
bubbled over.
New premier Omar al-Razzaz, appointed by King Abdullah II after his
predecessor quit over the protests on Monday, announced after talks with
legislators that an “agreement had been struck” to withdraw the bill.
He said the legislation would be sent back by parliament to the government
once a new cabinet is formed, with that process expected to take several
days.
Razzaz was ordered by the king to carry out a “comprehensive review” of
the tax proposals after the country was rattled by days of protests.
“As unions, we’ve done our duty,” said the head of Jordan’s trade unions
council, Ali al-Abous, after a meeting with Razzaz.
“The meeting was very positive and we felt a change in attitude,” he said.
“(Razzaz) promised us… that there won’t be anymore decisions that fall
on us like parachutes.”
Jordan has blamed its economic woes on instability wracking the region and
the burden of hosting hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees without
adequate international support.
The tax bill was the latest in a series of austerity measures to cut
national debt since Amman secured a $723-million loan from the IMF in 2016.
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The controversial legislation that has sparked much of the ire would have
raised taxes on employees by at least five percent and on companies by
between 20 and 40 percent.
– Scuffles –
Although a majority of deputies said they would vote against it,
protesters still staged repeated night-time demonstrations after breaking the
Ramadan fast to demand the bill be withdrawn altogether.
The authorities scrambled to defuse the public discontent, but the call by
the king to review the tax bill and resignation of prime minister Hani Mulki
failed to stem the protests.
Scuffles took place Wednesday between police forces, mobilised in large
numbers, and some 2,000 demonstrators who tried to repel them in the capital
Amman.
Demonstrators waved Jordanian flags or carried placards reading “I’m
afraid for my future”, while others held up loaves of flatbread with
“corruption = hunger” written on them.
Since January, resource-poor Jordan has seen repeated price rises
including for staples such as bread, as well as extra taxes on basic goods.
Fuel prices have risen five times since the start of the year, while
electricity bills have surged by 55 percent since February.
“Prices are constantly rising on all products: food, cars, housing and
telecommunications … We do not work for ourselves anymore, but to pay the
state,” unemployed protester Suhaib Rabaibai told AFP Wednesday.
Jordan, a key US ally, has largely avoided the unrest witnessed by other
countries in the region since the Arab Spring revolts broke out in 2011,
although protests did flare late that year after the government cut fuel
subsidies.
The latest protests started last week when unions called for nationwide
demonstrations.
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