2020-10-28

West Bank and Gaza Strip

Human Rights Defenders / West Bank / Gaza / Announcement / Core Program

MUSAWA holds a virtual meeting on bearing the economic consequences of the political and health crisis and its implications

On Wednesday, 28/10/2020, MUSAWA- The Palestinian Center for the Independence of the Judiciary and the Legal Profession held an electronic dialogue, entitled “Foundations and criteria for bearing the economic consequences of the political and health crisis: Salaries as a model”, during which, economists, legal experts, and trade unionists have called for adopting a set of economic and financial decisions to deal with the serious repercussions of the economic, political and health crisis, to take a series of measures to radically address the crisis, which is mainly represented by the non-compliance with the Paris Economic Protocol.

The proposed decisions included the following actions: 

1. Imposing a one-time compulsory tax on large corporations and venture capitalists with large profits.
2. Rationalizing public expenditures of ministries and government departments and eliminating expenditures that are considered unnecessary at this stage.
3. Reducing the salaries of ministers and senior employees by applying a higher salary ceiling.
4. Requiring private sector companies to implement social responsibility programs in the health, education, and social development sectors and deducting their cost from the taxation imposed on them.
5. Reconsidering the tax brackets and increasing the taxation imposed on the higher brackets.
6. Abolishing value-added tax on commodities such as bread, which do not exceed 10 types of commodities.
7. Reconsidering the rate of salary disbursement during the crisis, so that the highest possible percentage of the low salaries and the lowest possible percentage of the higher salaries are disbursed, and applying a ceiling to the disbursement of higher salaries paid, and a minimum that meets the basic living requirements of other public officials.
8. Adopting the appropriate legal requirement to address the fundamental imbalance in the balance sheet of public finances referred to in the report of the State Audit Administrative Control Bureau.
9. Exploring venues to increase revenues against expenditures with available resources, especially in the agricultural sector.
10. To accelerate the procedure for conducting general elections, paving the way for the elected Legislative Council in playing its oversight role over public financial performance.

The meeting hosted Mr. Moayyad Afana, an expert and researcher in budgetary issues, who discussed the extent to which Palestinian standards conform to international standards and the principles of preparing public budgets, including emergency budgets. The meeting also hosted Ms. Sahar Abu Zeina, the director of the Arboneh Primary School in Jenin, who addressed the implications of the standards adopted by the Ministry of Finance regarding salaries, and the extent to which they adhere to the principle of social justice and the status and functions of the employees.

The meeting was broadcast live on MUSAWA’s Facebook page.