Draft Law on “Solidarity” Contribution: The Poor Bear the Cost of the Crisis While the Rich Remain Untouched

Statement by the Revolutionary Socialists

Today, the Cabinet approved a draft law concerning the “solidarity” contribution to address the economic repercussions of the coronavirus. The law stipulates that 1% of the net income of state employees will be deducted starting next July for 12 months, and 0.5% of the net income of pensioners will be deducted.

According to the text of the law, this includes “employees of public sector companies, business sector companies, companies in which the state owns a share of the capital, as well as the private sector and bank employees … whether the employee holds a permanent or temporary position.”

The government raises the slogan “saving the rich from the pockets of the poor,” as the proceeds deducted from workers’ wages under the law will be allocated to “economic and productive sectors as well as affected establishments, companies, and projects.” Meanwhile, this government has not taken any measures that affect the interests of prominent businessmen, who have accumulated vast fortunes with the facilitation and support of the regime over many years. On the contrary, since last March, it has rushed to provide support to them in the form of measures, including postponing the payment of property tax on industrial and tourist establishments for three months, reducing the stamp duty on stock market transactions, reducing the tax on capital gains distributions, in addition to other incentive decisions in their favor.

Simultaneously, the government complies with the pressure from businessmen to resume operations at total capacity, risking the lives of millions of people amidst an out-of-control pandemic by pushing for “coexistence” with the virus in the coming period.

The most troubling aspect of the new law is that the proceeds deducted from workers’ wages will also be allocated to “contributing to the financing of therapeutic research and developing the healthcare system,” making the citizens pay once again for years of deliberate neglect of the health sector and its weak budget as part of the regime’s plan to abdicate its responsibility for funding and providing services.

The regime placed the burden of the crisis on workers and the poor multiple times: once due to the absence of any adequate support for citizens during the pandemic, forcing them to choose between dying from illness or starvation; once through collusion with businessmen in reducing wages and layoffs; once by blaming them for the spread of the pandemic throughout all this; and now by funding the rescue package for companies and projects from their pockets.