Tax Collection Authority Discovers New Looting Fund Named the New Traffic Law!
(Translated)

The successive authorities and governments of Lebanon and its people still prove, by all standards, day after day that they are a tax collection government and not governments that take care of the people. And the new traffic law is a confirmation of this. The authority issued a new traffic law that fines 450 thousand liras for violations such as not using a seat belt or not taking the vehicle for mechanical inspection on time. While the minimum wage is 675 thousand liras, i.e. this penalty tax equals to two-thirds of the income of families with minimum income! This authority issued a traffic law that includes taxes that reminds us of the incredible taxes imposed by the kings of the Middle Ages in Europe on their people.

How can a fine for a traffic violation be equivalent to two-thirds of the income of a family with minimum wage?! Worse still is that if the one who is fined does not rush to pay the fine, the new law proposes his quick imprisonment! Yes, just like that! Either you starve your family or you are imprisoned! The Lebanese authority gives the choice be burnt by one of these two fires. Does this authority assume that those who drive cars in Lebanon are only those with high incomes? Even this unjust law disturbs them. Is the taxation on transport that the government imposes not enough? Including the annual mechanics costs, and mandatory insurance, and tax vehicle registration, and taxes to obtain driving licenses, and tariff taxes on imported cars, and mounting financial fines on those who delay the payment of these taxes ... an accumulated taxes that deprives ordinary people from the acquisition of cars and make it exclusive to a few! If the breadwinner of the family wanted to buy a car to transport his family and pays taxes for its registration in the traffic register, he and those who rely on him, his family and parent, will have to abstain from food and medicine for at least a year, according to the minimum wage!

This government is justifying that imposing these high taxes and fines is for the security of people and to reduce the number of cars. It is quite strange that this government uses the security of the people as a justification, while yesterday its men were inciting people to divide according to religious factions, we nearly fell into a new civil war! We say to them: if your policies are up to the level of statesmen then there will be no congestion on the roads. Since you have always boasted to become open and trendy and host tourists, we say to you: The least open modern and touristic states developed public transport systems linking some of the major cities with each other decades ago, and links major neighborhoods in some cities with train, metro, and bus networks that respect the dignity of humans. Even the streets of cities around the world are almost transformed into the yellow colour due to the large number of taxis and a few private cars. Had the people in this country felt safe for themselves and their dignity and their families in the public transport sector many of them would have not used their cars, even if they are high-income earners, many of them would have given up their own cars. But you controlled the public transport and handed it over to gangs belonging to some of you, and you allowed buses to be driven by suicidal people venturing with people's lives and safety.

You use justification that the law is to deter the violators of the people, we say to you: It's a flimsy excuse and it does not justify the brutality of these fines. And we add: that although the punishment is necessary to deter offenders, but the discipline of the people with the law should not be based only to the harshness of the law, otherwise the law will become the enemy of the people. But the discipline of the people by the law must emanate primarily from people's belief that the origin of the law is true, that is it is derived from an honest fixed reference, and this is not what characterizes laws based on secular man-made constitutions, and secondly from the belief that the intention of the government by these laws is the reformation of people's affairs, and that does not fit your description. And thirdly that the authority will be just in the application of these laws to all the citizens, with no exception, and this is what the people have not experienced in Lebanon for ages! The people know very well that the government intent of these laws is the collection of taxes, and that there will be discrimination in its application because of rampant corruption in the state apparatus.

O People in Lebanon:

This government is not worthy of your leadership, and you realize that it has not received, neither it nor the previous one, your respect for a day. So seriously think of your future. The country suffered enough of fluctuations that worried you continuously for decades. The time has come for you to think about a real way out of this deteriorating situation.

You suffer from the injustice of security chaos; even if the security and stability are achieved you suffer the injustice of the laws.

O people, that the only way out of this situation is to establish a stable political entity in which the elements of stability and a reference of the laws is the Lord of the people, to the command of Allah Almighty; Allah knows more than these politicians of that which is good for us humans. The way out is by implementing the law which was brought by the last Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him and his family. The way out is by the true Khilafah "Caliphate" state, which can spread justice among the citizens; it will not discriminate between officials and ordinary people, or between Muslim and non-Muslim in rights. A state that revives the role of the mind in politicians so they become resourceful in finding practical solutions instead of those politicians the imitators of their masters, the Europeans and the Americans in every big and small issue.

We in the Hizb ut Tahrir invite you to be liberated from these rulers of limited horizons, and to work with us to unify the Muslim countries, particularly our lands of Ash-Sham in a single Islamic state, a state of care not a state of tax collection, that guarantees basic needs, and even luxuries when capacities are available, this will be soon, Allah willing, a true Khilafah "Caliphate" state that will restore true security and stability and independence for our lands.

[هَذَا بَيَانٌ لِلنَّاسِ وَهُدًى وَمَوْعِظَةٌ لِلْمُتَّقِين]

"This [Qur'an] is a clear statement to [all] the people and a guidance and instruction for those conscious of Allah" [Al-i-Imran: 138]