Warning of Financial Market Collapse Following Implementation of New Direct Tax Law

The newspaper Jahan San'at has highlighted the "warning from experts regarding the consequences of providing bank account information to the Tax Administration" and reported on the potential "risk of financial market collapse" in its front page. The newspaper Shargh has published parts of a recent interview with the former commander of the police force titled "Unspoken Words of Ahmadinejad's Era," emphasizing that the release of this interview is a "media game by Ahmadinejad's supporters." The newspaper Etemad, in its front page on the first of September, titled "Destruction in Heiran as Narrated by an Eyewitness," has published a field report on the controversial villa constructions in the Heiran pass, stating: "Despite claims that a group of representatives from the three branches of government, along with judicial and inspection experts, are present in Astara to continuously monitor construction conditions in the Heiran area, construction continues unabated, and workers are freely laying bricks in some alleys of Heiran, with many signs indicating sales and rentals next to the lands and villas." Hassan Ghazizadeh Hashemi, the Minister of Health, criticized the public's distrust of the medical community in an editorial for the Iran newspaper on the anniversary of Avicenna's birth and Doctor's Day, stating: "Around the world, doctors are valuable social assets and part of the elite; is it not strange that a society, due to mismanagement, easily loses its assets?" The Minister of Health pointed out that "some may say that the attack on the medical community is intended to criticize the behavior of some in this group," and wrote: "What lies behind this behavior is merely a moral decline and the birth of distrust in society, the repercussions of which will affect everyone, and often we realize it too late when it is costly to restore trust." He emphasized, "Let us not taint the medical community with distrust and damage the doctor-patient relationship, which requires maintaining the patient's trust in the doctor, through rumor-mongering and unfair attacks." The newspaper Javan, close to the Revolutionary Guards, quoted Mohammad Reza Naqdi, the commander of the Basij, stating: "Even with complete compromise, foreign investment will not come for production." The newspaper Shahrvand reported on its front page that the head of the Foreign Investment Association of the Iran Chamber of Commerce stated: "We receive a foreign investment request every 2.5 days." Hossein Salimi, the head of Allameh Tabatabai University, stated in an interview with Etemad that "the minister should announce that we are removing gender segregation." The Iran newspaper dedicated its front page photo to the President's presence at the "Defense Industry Day" ceremony, reporting that Hassan Rouhani emphasized that "our defensive strategy is deterrence and our policy is de-escalation and constructive interaction along with confidence-building," asserting that "the power of the Islamic Republic of Iran is the backbone of regional stability and we are ready for collective cooperation in defending regional security." Sociologist Saeed Moayedfar has called for the "revival of Iranian festivals" to alleviate the sadness in Iranian society, stating to the Law newspaper: "In the historical calendar of our country, there are various occasions such as Nowruz, Chaharshanbe Suri, Sizdah Bedar, etc., and these festivals create togetherness and cohesion, and in this regard, our culture is rich." This sociologist noted that "when we cannot experience togetherness, we will not only become fierce competitors for each other but will also seek to eliminate the other," adding: "Officials constantly say we have a water shortage, but people consume more water; or they say we have an air pollution problem, yet people drive more with their personal vehicles because fragmented forces have separated the foundations of society, resulting in mutual suffering and unfortunately engaging in deadly competition." The warning about the collapse of financial markets following the implementation of the new direct tax law has been highlighted by the newspaper Jahan San'at, which reports on the "warning from experts regarding the consequences of providing bank account information to the Tax Administration" and the potential "risk of financial market collapse." This newspaper, referring to the announcement of the amendment to the direct tax law by Hassan Rouhani, wrote: "The amended direct tax law, recently announced to prevent tax evasion, includes various clauses, among which is the disclosure of bank account information to the Tax Administration." Jahan San'at emphasizes that "the first consequence arising after the implementation of this law may be the widespread withdrawal of resources from banks," stating: "Individuals will take care of their accounts to be less scrutinized by the Tax Administration, and the first way is to withdraw their money from their accounts." However, this event "will have a secondary consequence, and following the withdrawal of funds from accounts, the use of bank cards, which has been culturally established in monetary transactions for years, will decrease. The less the transactions, the less the taxes." According to this newspaper, "experts who have monitored changes in the monetary market and competing markets for years believe that this money will end up in speculative markets. Sometimes in the currency market, sometimes in gold, sometimes in housing, and occasionally in the stock market or any other market where there is a likelihood of short-term profit increase," which will cause "attractive markets to shift more towards speculative games or, in some cases, sudden crashes due to high demand." Jahan San'at notes that "the emergence of both white and black money in the market will be another consequence of implementing the new direct tax law," stating that this money "is obtained through illegal and underground activities. The boom in usury activities and many unconventional activities will not only circulate white and black money in the market but will also bring substantial profits to some." Haidar Moshtaqeen Hosseini, the former deputy of the Ministry of Economy and the Central Bank, also pointed out that "the demands of economists and economic activists have been ignored," regarding the announcement of the amended direct tax law and the obligation for banks and credit institutions to provide bank account information to the Tax Administration, stating: "There is no doubt about economic transparency and the financial operations of individuals and legal entities and financial discipline and health, but when the economy is not in equilibrium at the macro level and economic markets are disintegrated and imbalance prevails, and financial markets like money, insurance, and capital show results and performance that lead to complete distrust of the people, and economic activists have no trust in these markets, the main culprit is the government, and the implementation of this law will certainly lead to problems in the monetary market." The former deputy of the Ministry of Economy also stated that "when the time is one of recession, and in recession conditions, taxes should be lower, not higher, it is one of the wonders of the economic field that in recession conditions, pressure on the people has increased, leading people to choose escape routes and withdraw resources from banks and place them in their hands." Haidar Moshtaqeen Hosseini elaborated on the second problem of implementing this law, saying: "With the implementation of this law, stakeholders and individuals will try to avoid heavy taxes by not keeping their liquidity as deposits in banks and withdrawing from banks, and in this case, fewer facilities will be granted to these individuals, which will lead to economic units that need liquidity to have fewer facilities and deepen the recession." The newspaper Jahan San'at also quoted Farid Ziaalmolki, a banking expert, stating: "This law can harm the country's monetary system" because "before this, only judicial authorities could access individuals' personal information. With this new law, the first consequence will be the loss of people's trust in banks," and "when depositors' trust in the banking system is lost, one can expect resources to exit banks." Mehdi Taghavi, a faculty member at Allameh Tabatabai University, told Jahan San'at: "As long as there is no possibility of this verification, one cannot expect to stop tax evasion, but for this possibility to be properly provided, the government must adhere to certain requirements, one of which is that the government must ensure this transparency for all individuals and legal entities equally and not exempt specific individuals from this rule." According to this economic expert, "the government must assure the people in the long term that taxes are consumed for the people in the form of urban services; until the people reach such a belief, they will see tax payment as a burden imposed on them." Mehdi Taghavi emphasized that "if these requirements are not met, the exit of resources from banks and hiding them in safes will certainly occur." "The Media Game of Ahmadinejad's Supporters with Ahmadinejad's Unspoken Words" The newspaper Shargh, while publishing parts of a recent interview with the former commander of the police force titled "Unspoken Words of Ahmadinejad," emphasized that the release of this interview is a "media game by Ahmadinejad's supporters." This newspaper noted that the lengthy conversation of the former police commander with the magazine "Ramz Abour," owned by Kaveh Eshtahardi, the former editor-in-chief of the Iran newspaper and a close associate of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, was also republished by the Fars news agency on Saturday, stating: "Ramz Abour was published as an annex to the government newspaper during Ahmadinejad's presidency and was once suspended before the New Year due to publishing a piece titled Unspoken Words of House Arrest." Mahsa Jazini in the report of the Shargh newspaper wrote: Ismail Ahmadi-Moqaddam, "the then commander of the police who recounts memories from 2009, mentioned Ahmadinejad's role in the events of that year in this interview," and "the unspoken words of the former police commander about the former president are worth reading; for instance, Ahmadinejad considered expelling elites as a solution to the regime's problems or ordered the police commander to arrest [Mohammad Khatami], the president before him." This newspaper recalled that Ismail Ahmadi-Moqaddam had previously stated in an interview with ISNA that "Saeed Mortazavi was responsible for the Kahrizak incident" and said: "In the Kahrizak incident, I explicitly expressed my opposition and said that it was a dangerous place, but Mortazavi insisted that the arrested individuals had knives, daggers, and chains and were considered thugs, but the police's opposition was recorded." Shargh emphasized that Ismail Ahmadi-Moqaddam was removed from the command of the police force in March 2015 and is now responsible for the Popular Support Headquarters in Yemen. Ameneh Shirafkan, in a note in the Shargh newspaper, described the release of Ismail Ahmadi-Moqaddam's interview as a "media game by Ahmadinejad's supporters," writing: "The conversation of General Ahmadi-Moqaddam with the weekly Ramz Abour made a loud noise, and the unspoken words and some points from various periods, especially the events following the 2009 presidential election, spread rapidly on social media." She added: "Aside from some points raised about personalities and political figures, the main point among Ahmadi-Moqaddam's statements may be a candid critique he made about Ahmadinejad; however, the publication of points that Ahmadi-Moqaddam mentioned about his explicit disagreements with Ahmadinejad raises questions in a media outlet close to Ahmadinejad's men, especially in a weekly whose director is Kaveh Eshtahardi, the former editor-in-chief of the Iran newspaper." The author of the Shargh newspaper noted that "in the latest issue of Ramz Abour, four images are seen on the cover of the weekly; from General Ahmadi-Moqaddam to Kamran Daneshjoo, who is referred to as a missile scientist, and Mohammad Soleimani, who is apparently the father of Iran's satellite science, and Masoud Mir-Kazemi, the oil minister of Ahmadinejad's government." According to the Shargh newspaper, "Although in Ahmadi-Moqaddam's conversation, Ahmadinejad and some of his ill-considered remarks about calling people 'debris' are criticized in several paragraphs, the bulk of the conversation presents ambiguous points about [Mohammad Khatami], the reformist president, Hashemi Rafsanjani, and Ali Larijani," while "the prominent responsibility of another line of the conversations is also to challenge the government of Hassan Rouhani and especially the nuclear agreement, particularly where Soleimani mentioned the lack of motivation among academics in the post-agreement period." This newspaper wrote that the magazine Ramz Abour "has introduced and preserved the not-so-reputable figures of the previous government" as part of the "agenda" of media close to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in publishing interviews such as the statements of Ismail Ahmadi-Moqaddam.