Raisi was supposed to present the so-called “Seventh Development Plan” before presenting the budget bill to parliament, but he didn’t. These plans are announced with great fanfare, but in practice, they serve as smokescreens for the regime’s growing list of dismal economic failures.
Raisi’s refusal to present the development plan has sparked outrage in the regime’s parliament. The deputies chosen at random have refused to vote on the budget bill until they receive the “development plan.”
Raisi, devoid of economic ideas or a compelling rationale for his government’s budget bill, pathetically urged MPs to approve “the best budget bill yet” while promising to “quickly submit the seventh development plan.”
The budget bill, if passed, will raise “wages by an average of 20%” and “pensions by an average of 10%.” These figures lag far behind Iran’s staggering inflation rate. Even if we accept the regime’s engineered figure of 40% inflation, employees’ and retirees’ purchasing power is set to fall by at least 24 and 34%, respectively
Because the regime’s oppressive machinery cannot be fully funded, it has raised taxes by 66%, generating an additional $21 billion in state revenue. Meanwhile, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s vast financial institutions (with assets worth hundreds of billions of dollars) are tax-free. And they’ve gotten the lion’s share of the government’s budgets.
Taxation is the primary financing mechanism for improving public services in democratic countries. However, in Iran, the dictatorship uses taxes to fund illegal and inhumane activities such as bolstering its armed forces with the intent of suppressing the citizenry at home or exporting religious fundamentalism and terrorism abroad.
As the Iranian people are forced to pay higher taxes due to the country’s economic crisis, the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) will benefit from a higher income sourced from the state budget to fund their destabilizing actions in the region as well as their suppression of the ongoing nationwide uprising.
All of this reveals the regime’s bankrupt economy as well as its inability to sustain its oppression. As the nationwide uprising continues despite the mullahs’ efforts to crush it, the ruling theocracy’s strategic reserves are rapidly depleting, hastening its demise.
MEK Iran (follow us on Twitter and Facebook), Maryam Rajavi’s on her site, Twitter & Facebook, NCRI (Twitter & Facebook), and People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran – MEK IRAN – YouTub
