Higher taxes for lower-paid state employees

The Syrian parliament ratified an executive decree from President Bashar al-Assad on Wednesday doubling taxes on public-sector employees from five to 10 percent, reported Syria News on Wednesday.

The higher tax rate, which comes into effect November 1, will be taken out of each employee’s monthly base salary. Any stipends that employees might receive every month to cover certain living expenses are not subject to the tax increase, reported pro-regime Syrian Economic News (SEN Syria) on Tuesday.

A high-paying job in the Syrian public sector often includes monthly stipends that cover a host of living expenses and depends on the position and profession.

What this means is that state employees in higher-paying jobs, who are more likely to receive supplemental stipends on top of their salaries, will not have taxes deducted from a significant portion of their overall monthly wage. Syrians with lower-paying jobs, whose overall monthly salary isn’t cushioned with these stipends, will have a larger proportion of their salary taxed under the new system.

Another executive decree from last month gave a flat monthly raise to military and civilian state employee of only SP2,500 ($13.24), regardless of previous salary, reported the Syrian state news agency SANA.