Onerous taxes are an integral part of man-made systems

News:

The increase in taxes in Ukraine will provoke a slowdown in the economy and will automatically lead to an increase in prices for goods and services. This was stated by investment analyst Eric Nyman.

In turn, the former Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine Pavel Rozenko, commenting on the authorities' initiative to hold a tax amnesty, said that looking for a reserve for the budget by raising taxes is categorically unacceptable. (Source: glavcom.ua)

Comment:

A topical issue for any economic system is the issue of taxation. The state of the economy, its attractiveness for investment, the possibility of creating new jobs, etc., not least of all, depends on him . It is important for any state to have a simple, transparent and, most importantly, citizen friendly tax system and tax service.

It's no secret that the Internal Revenue (Tax) Service in modern capitalist countries has become one of the most hated public services for ordinary citizens.

The interaction of an ordinary entrepreneur with the tax authorities has turned into a kind of survival quest, where the main task is not to avoid tax penalties, but to at least minimize them.

Separately, it must be said about the presence of an endless list of fees and duties when registering property, filing claims in courts, buying and selling, producing identity documents, and carrying out infrastructure and communications to your home. The main reason for all this injustice lies in the fact that in capitalism the right to impose taxes, as well as the right to legislate, belongs to the person himself.

In Islam, not a single tax can be introduced without it being mentioned in the Qur'an and Sunnah. Therefore, the Caliphate will have a fixed, permanent tax system, which for this reason will be transparent and citizen friendly.
Let's briefly list these taxes:

Zakat. Charged only from Muslims, only from four types of property. For example, zakat is not levied on services provided. That is, a person who has a network of 300 hairdressing salons will not pay absolutely any taxes on this.

Further, Islam established only two taxes on land, these are the ushr tax and the kharaj tax. Ushr is a kind of zakat for agriculture. It is collected only from Muslims and only from wheat, barley, dates and grapes.

The second is the kharaj tax. Collected from so-called kharaj lands regardless of the actually grown crop. When collecting kharaj, the average productivity of a particular land plot is taken into account.

Apart from these two taxes, landowners are not subject to any other taxes, such as flat or pension tax, water use tax and other levies that have made farming unprofitable today.

The tax on the found treasure (rikaz) is the payment of a fifth of the valuable property found in the land. Non-Muslims are charged jizya for their right to remain in their religion, to be protected and to be provided for by the State. The state is not allowed to introduce any other taxes, duties and fees other than those listed above. After all, the imposition of any other taxes is prohibited, since it is an injustice, the tax that the Prophet (saw) said about,

«لَا يَدْخُلُ الْجَنَّةَ صَاحِبُ مَكْسٍ» “He who takes max will not enter Paradise” (narrated by Ahmad, ad-Darimiy and Abu Ubayd).

Yes, in the event of unforeseen expenses, Sharia allowed the introduction of a one-time tax on the property of wealthy Muslims. But this is an extreme exception in emergency situations and cannot be permanent. This simple, transparent taxation system, along with public property revenues, is sufficient to generate increased production and investment, more jobs, and make an entrepreneur smile when he sees a tax employee.

Written for the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir by
Fazyl Amzayev
Head of the Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir in Ukraine