Bahrain Mirror: The former Secretary-General of "Wa'ad" Society, Ibrahim Sharif, confirmed that "the people pay the tax due to the accumulation of the government's mistakes, absence of the House of Representatives' real role, and thus the absence of citizens' role," saying: "Every 4 years, one deputy goes and another comes, and the result remains the same."

Sharif explained, "According to the 2024 budget, we pay interest worth 900 million dinars, and the reason goes back to 2007 when the government borrowed one billion dinars, and in 2022 it borrowed more than 20 billion, so the public debt has doubled more than 20 times in 15 years, despite the period during which the price of a barrel of oil was more than $100."

He stressed on "the possibility to reduce the government's expenses," as "the government pays McLaren car company a billion, while it is in a state of loss, and every year the government pays it an added tax of 100 or 200 million dollars."

Sharif called on the government to follow Saudi Arabia footsteps, noting that "Saudi Arabia has relied for 6 years on monthly taxes taken from foreign workers," and said: "If we were able to collect 500 million dinars every month in Bahrain from foreign labor fees, we would reduce the number of workers and our reliance on them for everything, in this way, we introduce fees to the government and pay the largest part of the value-added tax."

While Sharif stressed that "the government has alternatives," he explained that "the problem lies in who designs the tax system and considers it good," noting that "the government is the one that determines the system by a decree law or directive, not the representatives of the people."

The former Secretary-General stressed the need for "social representation among decision-makers," asking: "Do representatives reflect the opinion of the popular base? Is the value-added tax in the benefit of the people?", recalling that "the value-added tax in the West came after taxes on individuals and companies," wondering: "Why do we reflect this in Bahrain?"

He stressed the possibility of solving the problem of "white lands" if we set a tax on these lands that have not been sold, which would give an income to the state and reduce the value of these lands," indicating that "those who take the decision now are the people who have an interest in keeping the prices of lands high."

He confirmed that "if we change the decision-making equation, a large part of our problems will be solved."

Arabic Version