‘Dangerous effects’ on State Treasury if taxes are imposed

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Need to cut state expenditures: Al-Bader

KUWAIT CITY, July 12: Member of the Supreme Council for Planning and Development and former board chairman of the Gulf Bank Ali Rashid Al-Bader insists that imposing taxes will have dangerous consequences on the State Treasury, as Kuwaiti economy is relatively small and the state controls most of the economic activities, reports Annahar daily.

He explained that nearly 90 percent of citizens depend on the state for their income. In such a case, the state has to find ways to deal with the budget deficit without harming the pockets of citizens particularly those of low and middle class.

Al-Bader stressed that the taxes will include the salaries and allowances of employees, accountants and lawyers who will deal with the taxes such as calculating and collecting them. He affirmed that imposing taxes will lead to reduced local investments, which are already weak, insisting that the losses incurred from collecting taxes will be higher than the collected taxes.

Al-Bader indicated that the implementation of the tax system should be postponed until investment opportunities for citizens and private sector companies are increased. He stressed the need to reduce state expenditures, as well as lessen the dominant role of the state on the economy by enforcing the privatization law as quickly as possible.

Al-Bader recommended hastening the execution of the project for development of Kuwaiti islands, as these will achieve as much financial gains as that of oil sector in the future, as well as create large number of job opportunities.

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