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Kurdistan Region-Iraq News in brief
9.10.2006
update 2 |
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Sulaimaniyah,
Erbil, Duhok, Kirkuk, Kurdistan Region (Iraq), October
9,
2006
Kurdistan Region Government opens office in
Baghdad
Kurdistan Region Government decided to open an
office in Baghdad at a the level of minister.
The Kurdistan Government office will be headed by
Minister Dilshad Miran who will be deputized by
Undersecretary Salah Jum'a, Khalid Salih, spokesman
for the Kurdistan Regional Government said.
"The government also decided to set up a committee
within Iraq's Kurdistan Government office at Baghdad
to coordinate issues related to the performance of
defense lawyers and prosecution witnesses at Anfal
genocide trial case," Salih said.
The spokesman did not give further details about the
main work of the Iraq's Kurdistan government office
in Baghdad.
The opening of a modern kindergarten in
Sulaimaniyah city for the first time
Dilshad Abdurrahman, Minister of Education in the
Kurdistan Regional Government opened a modern
Kindergarten in Sulaimaniyah for the first time.
Teachers, children and parents attended the ceremony
of opening of the sections of this kindergarten.
Mrs. Amira, the Principle of the kindergarten said
"this kindergarten takes 96 children and it is
different to other ones as the children shall stay
in this kindergarten until 4.00pm. The children
receive three meals, they will learn Music, have
stories read to them, play and will be educated in a
new system."
"The Ministry supports all efforts that change all
kindergartens to follow the modern system" said the
Minister of Education.
In reply to a question raising the issue of whether
the teachers have enough experience in this
kindergarten, the Minister said "there is a proposal
to open a special institution for teachers to be
trained in the modern system."
Twenty people fall sick as a result of a water
contamination
Twenty people have been registered in Penjuin
hospital, in the last 2 weeks, suffering from liver
sickness.
An official from the health-monitoring department in
the hospital described the reason as the
contamination of the water supplies.
Jamal Sabir, from the health-monitoring department
said "as a result of mixing the drinking water with
the waste water in many quarters 20 people became
sick of liver disease, most of them under the age of
ten". He added "the type of the disease is 'A' and
not serious".
Salar Mahmoud from the Water office confirmed that
the drinking water was mixed with wastewater in many
quarters. However, the residents had been informed.
Public complains of high taxation
Economics lecturer at Sulaimaniyah University Musa
Muhammad is critical of the government's taxation
policy.
Economics- Muhammad Karim, 52, from Derbendikhan
town, south of Sulaimaniya, was among the crowds of
people attempting to complete paperwork for his new
car at Sulaimaniyah's tax office. Like others, Karim
complains that the public are not seeing the
benefits of high levels of government taxation.
However, government officials insist that taxes have
been lowered.
Statistics obtained from Sulaimaniyah's Tax Office
show that the office has collected a total amount of
7,266,390,470 Iraqi Dinars (ID) in 2004, while in
2005 the figure has raised to 13,626,461,450 ID.
During the first six months of this year, an amount
of 9,372,302,626 ID has been collected as taxes. "In
the early 1990s tax was higher than it is now. In
the past few years taxes have been as high as 75%,
but now they are down to 25% and there are plans to
reduce taxation further to 15%" the director of
Sulaimaniyah's tax office, Kawa Mohammed Nader,
states.
"This is because economic growth has meant there are
more people paying taxes."
Economics lecturer at Sulaimaniyah University Musa
Muhammad is critical of the government's taxation
policy.
"The tax system in Kurdistan is not a proper system,
especially as there are no statistical firms to show
how many taxes have been collected from people. This
is the main reason why many people do not pay tax.
Because there are no clear policies from the
government to clarify the taxation system, the
people do not have any information and knowledge
about taxes."
The main form of taxation is direct, taken from
monthly salaries, and is used to fund government
services like water, electricity and the health
services. There are 100,000 electricity consumers in
Sulaimaniyah, who collectively pay 450 million Iraqi
Dinars monthly in taxes. Many people feel that they
are paying too much, especially considering the poor
provision of electricity. As a result, many are
indebted to the electricity office.
"We do not look at this money as tax because the
money taken has not been calculated according to the
electricity that is provided to the people," Abu
Bakr Ahmad, Sulaimaniyah's director of electricity,
says. According to head of water provision Muhammed
Fathullah, many people also owe the water office
money. The logic behind taxation is to extract money
from people with high incomes to fund public
services and support those with little or no income.
"Part of the budget spent on public services is
provided by taxes, but people do not realise this.
It would be better if the government better informs
the public about taxation and its purpose," says
government employee Murza Akram.
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