Movement in the senate

Al Arab al Yawm is doing a much better job than the rest of the dailies in keeping up with the budget- income tax controversy. In today's issue, there is an article pointing to movement in the senate on resolving the issue of the income tax law that was rejected by the house. The finance and legal committees in the senate will decide today whether to either recommend rejection of the law or to move to vote on it in the senate.

In a related op-ed piece, Fahed Khitan points out that key members of the senate are now against the income tax law, pointing specifically to ex-prime ministers Ali Abu Ragheb and Abdulkarim Kabariti. Issues that are to be resolved include whether to modify the law to make it more fair or to reject it outright. It seems that Marouf Bakhit is not pushing the issue very hard, and doesn't have a problem with either option. There does seem to be an issue with what to do with the other three laws that were rejected by the house.

A third article discusses the economic prospects for Jordan in 2006. The indicators are for rising fuel prices as well as inflation, as well as for progress in various fields of economic activity, and continued stability of the dinar. There is also a lot of concern with the increase in the sales tax, which will rise from 4% to 16% on many staples, including food and medicine. This rise is a result of an administrative decision by the previous government, and thus not subject to approval by the parliament.