On April 10, MIFTAH launched its 2018 Fair Tax Monitor report, aimed at providing the public and civil society institutions with qualitative and quantitative analysis and an overall view of the Palestinian tax system. The report presents several outcomes and recommendations for decision-makers in cooperation with parties involved in formulating fiscal policies, alternatives and draft amendments that respond to the aspirations of citizens and adopt a participatory approach in developing tax policies through promoting the values of social justice.
Mr. Yousef Dajani, member of MIFTAH’s Board of Directors, opened the workshop, reaffirming MIFTAH’s aspirations along with its local and international partners, to lead a productive dialogue aimed at developing fiscal and economic policies that respond to the needs and aspirations of citizens, especially marginalized sectors. This, he said, corresponded with the organization’s strategic goal of promoting good governance in Palestine and adopting democratic values and practices in the management of public affairs and adopting government policies that promote value of openness with the public and citizens. He said this requires real and practical application of the report’s results and recommendations alongside other analytical reports and studies on the fiscal and tax policies in Palestine, published throughout 2018.
Dajani added, “We must adopt more in-depth thinking and develop effective strategies to confront challenges through pro-poor fiscal policies that are more responsive to the people’s needs; this is by considering the causes and factors that would enable Palestinian citizens to remain steadfast. We must also take into consideration the socioeconomic circumstances under which members of Palestinian society live and transform these challenges into opportunities to promote concerted efforts in expanding the circle of dialogue between official institutions and the relevant parties in addition to looking for solutions and reform recommendations that advance socio-economic policies.” The first session began with a presentation of the FTM report’s results and recommendations by researcher Firas Jaber, which concluded with a recommendation to restructure tax policies and focus on direct income tax revenuesas the ‘wealth tax” instead of depending on indirect (consumption) taxes. He focused on the importance of adopting a progressive fiscal policy through increasing the number of tax brackets to raise the level of social equity. The socioeconomic goals of tax policies such as education, health and social protection must also be taken into consideration, he maintained.
Furthermore, researcher Luay Rajab showcased the results and recommendations of a specialized report on tax burden from the perspective of social justice. The report stressed on the need to address the wide gap in the distribution of the tax burden among the various social sectors and set policies capable of taking the socioeconomic conditions of taxpayers into consideration. It also called for addressing the inflated rates of tax evasion in addition to reviewing all tax policies and transactions controlled by Israel.
MIFTAH project coordinator Hassan Mahareeq said the launching of this report is in line with MIFTAH’s strategic approaches, represented in its efforts to lobby and advocate for social justice and equality in the development of public policies and to promote good governance in Palestine. He said this was the first report of its kind in Palestine and the ninth at the global level, adding that its methodology was designed in consultation with a group of international experts specialized in fair taxation.
In this regard, MIFTAH hopes to develop the report’s result into national indicators for fiscal policies in Palestine that would contribute to improving the reform performance for tax policies on the one hand, and boost contribution of the monitoring role in civil society for tax collection procedures and government spending, on the other.
The launching of this report is part of MIFTAH’s OXFAM-funded “Finance for Development” project, which it implements in partnership with AMAN and ARIJ.
بهدف تعزيز قيم العدالة الاجتماعية في السياسات المالية
'مفتاح' تطلق مؤشر العدالة الضريبية 2018 من خلال نهج جديد في السياسات الضريبية
تاريخ النشر: 11/04/2019
بقلم: مفتاح
أطلقت المبادرة الفلسطينية لتعميق الحوار العالمي والديمقراطية "مفتاح" أمس تقرير مؤشر العدالة الضريبية 2018، الهادف إلى تزويد جمهور المواطنين ومؤسسات المجتمع المدني بالتحليل الكمي والنوعي وإلقاء نظرة عامة حول جميع مكونات النظام الضريبي الفلسطيني، حيث يقدم التقرير العديد من النتائج والتوصيات لصناع القرار بالتشارك مع الأطراف ذات العلاقة في وضع سياسات مالية وبدائل ومقترحات تعديلات تستجيب لتطلعات المواطنين وتبني نهج تشاركي في بلورة السياسات الضريبية من خلال تعزيز قيم العدالة الاجتماعية.
وافتتح أعمال الورشة السيد يوسف الدجاني، عضو مجلس إدارة "مفتاح" بكلمة، أكد فيها على تطلع "مفتاح" بالتعاون مع شركائها المحليين والدوليين إلى قيادة حوار فاعل وهادف بغية بلورة سياسات مالية واقتصادية مستجيبة لتطلعات واحتياجات المواطنين، وبخاصة الفئات المُهمشة، تناغماً مع هدفها الاستراتيجي المرتبط بتعزيز الحكم الصالح في فلسطين وتبني القيم والممارسات الديمقراطية في إدارة الشأن العام، وانتهاج سياسات حكومية تعزز من قيم الانفتاح على جمهورها ومواطنيها، ويتطلب ذلك توظيفاً حقيقياً وعملياً لنتائج وتوصيات هذا التقرير إلى جانب التقارير والدراسات التحليلية للسياسات المالية والضريبية المعتمدة في فلسطين، التي تم العمل على إصدارها خلال العام 2018.
أضاف:" لا بد لنا من التفكير المعمّق ووضع الاستراتيجيات الفاعلة لمواجهة التحديات من خلال سياسات أكثر استجابة لاحتياجات الناس وأكثر عدالة من خلال الأخذ بالأسباب والعوامل التي تمكن المواطن الفلسطيني من الصمود، والأخذ بعين الاعتبار الظروف الاجتماعية والاقتصادية التي يعيشها أفراد المجتمع الفلسطيني، وتحويل هذه التحديات إلى فرص تعزيز تكاتف الجهود في توسيع دائرة الحوار ما بين المؤسسة الرسمية والجهات ذات العلاقة، والبحث عن حلول ومقترحات للنهوض بواقع السياسات الاقتصادية والاجتماعية.
بعد ذلك، استعرض الباحث فراس جابر في الجلسة الأولى نتائج وتوصيات التقرير، والتي خلصت إلى ضرورة إعادة هيكلة السياسات الضريبية، والتركيز على الإيرادات الضريبية المباشرة كضريبة "الثروة"، بدلا من الاعتماد على الضرائب غير المباشرة، أي ضرائب الاستهلاك. وركز على أهمية انتهاج سياسة ضريبية تصاعدية من خلال زيادة عدد الشرائح الضريبية للرفع من مستوى الإنصاف الاجتماعي، مع الأخذ بعين الاعتبار الأهداف الاقتصادية والاجتماعية للسياسات الضريبية كالتعليم، والصحة، والحماية الاجتماعية.
في حين استعرض الباحث لؤي رجب، نتائج وتوصيات التقرير المختص من ناحية العبء الضريبي من منظور العدالة الاجتماعية، والتي أكدت على ضرورة معالجة الفجوة الواسعة في توزيع العبء الضريبي بين فئات المجتمع المختلفة، ووضع سياسات كفيلة بأخذ الظرف الاقتصادي والاجتماعي بعين الاعتبار للمكلفين ضريبياً، ومعالجة المعدلات المتضخمة من التهرب الضريبي، إضافة إلى مراجعة كل السياسات والإجراءات الضريبية التي تتحكم بها إسرائيل.
وقال حسن محاريق، منسق المشروع في "مفتاح"، أن إطلاق هذا التقرير يأتي انسجاماً مع التوجهات الاستراتيجية ل"مفتاح"، والمتمثلة باستمرار جهود الضغط والمناصرة لضمان العدالة الاجتماعية والمساواة في بلورة السياسات العامة، وتعزيز الحكم الرشيد في فلسطين، حيث يعتبر هذا التقرير الأول من نوعه في فلسطين، والتاسع على المستوى الدولي حيث منهجية الاعداد جاءت بالتشاور مع مجموعة من الخبراء الدوليين في مجال العدالة الضريبية.
هذا وتتطلع "مفتاح" إلى تطوير نتائج التقرير إلى مؤشرات وطنية للسياسات المالية في فلسطين تساهم في رفع الاداء الاصلاحي للسياسات الضريبة من جهة، وتعزز من مساهمة الدور الرقابي للمجتمع المدني على الاجراءات الجباية الضريبية والانفاق الحكومي.
يأتي إطلاق هذا التقرير، ضمن مشروع "التمويل من أجل التنمية" الذي تنفذه "مفتاح" بالشراكة مع الائتلاف المدني من أجل النزاهة والمساءلة "أمان" ومعهد الأبحاث التطبيقية- القدس "أريج" وبدعم من منظمة أوكسفام.
MIFTAH releases 2021-2022 comparative actual spending reports for the social and security sectors, including social justice and gender indicators
Date posted: April 04, 2023
By MIFTAH
MIFTAH recently released 2021-2022 comparative actual spending reports for the social sector (health, education, higher education and scientific research, social development and labor), and for the first time, the security sector (Ministry of Interior and National Security). The reports were based on annual financial data released by the Ministry of Finance in Palestine for 2021-2022 and on an accrual basis.
The data showed that the Ministry of Interior and National Security had the highest percentage of actual spending in 2022, accounting for 22.8% of overall public expenditures, or ILS3.68 billion. This was a slight increase from the Ministry’s share in 2021. Meanwhile, actual spending on the education sector (Ministry of Education, Higher Education and Scientific Research) stood at 21.5% of overall public expenditures, or ILS3.48 billion. This was also an increase from the education sector’s share in 2021, which was 20.6% of public expenditures.
Moreover, actual spending on the Ministry of Health also increased in 2022, comprising 15% of overall public expenditures, at a sum of ILS2.4 billion. This was higher than in 2021, where its share was 14.4%. As for the Ministry of Social Development, actual spending was still low, amounting for 6.2% of overall public expenditures in 2022, compared to 5.8% in 2021. The Ministry of Social Development’s actual spending in 2022 was approximately ILS1 billion. As for the labor sector, actual spending on this sector in 2022 was 0.31% of overall public expenditures, while in 2021 it was 0.28%. Actual spending on the labor sector in 2022 was ILS50.1 million.
Upon review of actual spending reports of the targeted ministries from a gender and social justice perspective, it is clear that actual spending on the Ministry of Social Development does not coincide with the scope of its responsibilities as the forerunner of the social sector in Palestine, including its programs for combatting poverty and the protection of poor and marginalized social sectors. Moreover, non-compliance to the disbursement of payments for poor families within the CTP continued according to estimates, whereby only two of four installments for 2022 were disbursed, one at minimum value. This adversely affected the financial security of the most underprivileged and marginalized sectors of society, in addition to the insufficient estimated budget and actual spending on the social protection program, in spite of its importance in providing protection and social services to battered women, children, special-needs persons and the elderly.
The data also pointed to the low percentage of women working in the security sector, which stood at 6% of the total number of workers in this sector, while they comprised 46% of the civil sector. This shows a gap in actual spending on the security sector from a gender perspective, given that the lion’s share of actual spending in 2022 was on salaries and wages. Hence, women only benefited very little from these allocations, which were nearly ILS2.9 billion in 2022.
The data also indicated that the development expenditures for the Ministry of Labor were only ILS4.5 million in 2022, even though planned development expenditures were ILS32 million, which is much higher. This casts a shadow on gender-related programs and projects, which were allotted sizeable budgets within development expenditures, such as creating sustainable opportunities as alternatives for Palestinian men and women working in settlements, for which ILS10 million were earmarked.
Even though there was an increase in actual spending in 2022 at the targeted ministries in general, this increase was mainly concentrated on salaries and wages. In spite of the importance of providing a decent life for employees, there is still a need to increase spending on development expenditures, since they are at the forefront of developing government services, including the nationalization and institutionalization of various social services.
MIFTAH concludes town hall meetings on political participation and citizens’ rights for women and youth
Date posted: January 09, 2023
By MIFTAH
Ramallah – 29/12/2022 – Within its efforts to promote democratic values and the peaceful transfer of power within the Palestinian government system, MIFTAH’s field advisory team completed over 100 town hall meetings in the second half of 2022. The meetings were held in coordination and cooperation with CSOs, LGUs and grassroots organizations and targeted women and youth in several West Bank and Gaza Strip districts. The objective of these meetings was to raise awareness among the electorate on the electoral system in Palestine and on civil society demands to increase women and youth participation in local and general elections as candidates and voters, on the premise that this boosts their presence in decision-making levels and involves them in public affairs.
The town hall meetings included several exchange visits between LGU members in the various districts. The women shared the experiences and challenges they faced after becoming council members. The meetings focused on the concept of citizenship within a broader definition of the various forms of political participation and the importance of involvement from youth and women in public life. They also pointed to the different forms of democracy and the main pillars of the democratic society Palestinians seek to create. The participants furthermore discussed the various forms of electoral systems and shed light on the gaps in electoral laws regarding the presence of women and youth.
The participants pointed to the importance of periodic legislative and presidential elections and the danger of the ongoing absence of the PLC on matters pertaining to civic peace. They also warned against the absence of oversight and accountability, maintaining that the defunct PLC has contributed to shrinking civic space and public freedoms and therefore, the ability or desire to become involved in political life, especially for women and youth. In most of the meetings, the participants also indicated that the absence of a regular democratic process in Palestine contributed to the overall exclusion of youth from participation and to the marginalization of the role of women in Palestinian political decision-making.
The town hall meetings stressed on the importance of pressing for legislative, presidential and local elections in all West Bank, Jerusalem and Gaza Strip districts. They also endorsed the demand for equality in electoral laws, starting with raising the women’s quota to a minimum of 30%, raising the candidacy age and lowering the threshold. They urged Palestinian factions to assume a key role in the process of inclusion for women and youth in the public sphere and to prevent the progression of tribalism in the democratic process. The attendees emphasized the importance of monitoring the performance of LGUs in their interaction with local communities and the consistency of their meetings. Finally, they said female council members must be given the opportunity to exercise their role in their respective councils as equals to their male counterparts.
MIFTAH holds town hall meetings on an annual basis as part of its awareness campaign on citizens’ rights and the promotion of the democratic approach for a peaceful transfer of power, in addition to the involvement of women and youth in elections as both candidates and voters. Each year, through these town hall meetings, MIFTAH aims to reach the widest possible segment of the electorate and the different social sectors in all parts of Palestine.
MIFTAH completes training workshop in the Gaza Strip on family protection and advocacy
Date posted: January 05, 2023
By MIFTAH
Gaza – 2/1/2023 – MIFTAH recently completed a training workshop on measures and regulations on family protection in the Gaza Strip. The workshop was part of MIFTAH’s strategic objectives to prioritize family issues in communities and to support local institutions in increasing awareness on citizenship and constitutional rights for Palestinian women and on combatting all forms of GBV and discrimination in Palestinian society.
The workshop’s objectives included providing institutions with important information on the legislations, laws and measures for family protection in effect in the Gaza Strip, in a bid to enhance the oversight role of CSOs in holding accountable official parties responsible for enforcing these measures and legislations. The training also included offering institutions the necessary mechanisms for managing digital and media campaigns to press for the ratification of laws and legislation that protect women’s rights.
The discussions focused on a number of points, including legal (including sharia law) rebuttals to claims from parties opposing legislation, including the Family Protection Law. They also discussed how applicable this law would be in the Gaza Strip once ratified by the President.
The participants unanimously agreed that they supported adoption of the law, giving no credence to the claims of more extreme elements in Gaza on the Family Protection Law. They called on MIFTAH to hold general, open meetings with the public to introduce them to the law and its importance, so that they could defend themselves from the extremist discourse surrounding it.
Opinions and impressions
One of the participants, Latifa Shatat, said such training workshops were crucial for every Palestinian, male and female. “It is great we are pressing for protection laws such as the Family Protection Bill. This law will have tremendous impact on society as a whole. I can say from experience as a social and mental health worker that protection is the most important element in our work, especially in cases involving women and children, who are the most vulnerable social sectors. I commend MIFTAH and anyone who participates in spreading a culture of nonviolence, protection, justice and equality.”
Meanwhile, Haifa Al Araj said the training offered important details about the Family Protection Law and also ways of conducting initiatives and activities that could produce positive results in mobilizing support it.
Another participant, Hatem Abu Ta’a, said the training was a new starting point for him as an institution director in terms of integrating the demand to implement the Family Protection Law in all advocacy and lobbying activities and programs. He said he became more aware of the impediments to the law’s implementation at the official and social level, saying, “This training reminds us to renew our calls to demand implementation and ratification of the law at the official level.”
Meanwhile, Mahmoud Abu Rabee said ratification of the Family Protection Law would be a huge step, for women and children especially. “This law will amplify women’s voices and their ability to access help with stronger and more supportive centers throughout the homeland. As a strong supporter of this bill, I want to stress on the importance of civil society institutions explaining the clauses in the bill pertaining to CEDAW and to also focus on working with parties that oppose the law in particular.”
The training workshop is part of MIFTAH’s “Policy dialogue and Good Governance” Program, which aims at influencing public policies and legislation in favor of protection for citizens’ rights in Palestinian society, based on the principles of social justice and respect for human rights.
