Algeria refuses to pay “Bribe” to buy advanced ranking in Transparency International list

Classifications that were issued by international organizations in charge of combating corruption, as Transparency International do not enjoy full credibility to place a state in the rank of corruption or vice-versa, Director of Fiscal Legislation and Regulation at the General Directorate of Taxation, Mostafa Zekara said on Monday.

Zekara asserted, during a forum on fiscal and tax procedures that are included in the Finance Act of 2014, that some of the countries known of high rates of corruption, pay money in order to get a good rating in the annual list of corruption indicators that are issued by Transparency International, but refused to name the countries, adding that Algeria refused to pay the money when asked to pay the subscription fee to participate in the activities of the organization.

“Fiscal and tax procedures that are included in the current Finance Act, is an action that came in an attempt to strengthen the special procedures to support productive investment, and wealth creation in the real sectors. There is a need to support legislative stability in the fiscal and tax field the eve of the important international dates in Algeria’s relationships with the rest of the world, especially in the context of the adaptation of national legislation with international legislation that facilitates access to the World Trade Organization”.

“Some of the items that are contained in the text, including the procedure for the protection of national production in the field of mechanical industries, and some fields like the jewelry industry and the production of nitrogenous fertilizers to support agriculture, and set the conditions to take advantage of repeated benefit from the exemption that is oriented for mechanisms of supporting youth employment in various systems in place. Law prevents the same contractor to take advantage of the tax, fiscal and semi-fiscal exemption in several projects before the end of the exemption period”.

“Tax and fiscal pressure that is experienced by productive enterprises because the government is not ready now to cancel the tax on the professional activity which is a terrible pressure on the institution, which is very vague tax given the existence of high fees and taxes that are paid by the institution, such as the income and the benefit taxes”.

previously, the World Bank advised Algeria to cancel taxation on the professional activity, that is estimated at 2% of the annual turnover, which is directed to support the local communities through the Common Fund for Local Communities, a fund that is managed in a manner that is far from the rules of transparency, as it is the special account for allocation that neither parliament nor the Council of Accounting, not the General Inspectorate of Finance know how it is conducted and what are the billions of dollars that are in the fund which is administered by the Ministry of Interior and local communities.

With regard to the fight against fraud and tax evasion, Director of disputes at the General Directorate of Taxation for large companies, Arezki Ghanemi, said a deficit in the area of ​​human resources at the Commission which he represented, especially in front of the existence of the risk of fraud and evasion by companies that have international activities and relationships out of the country, as the management finds considerable tax difficulties in how to identify the list of companies that should be monitored, according to the legislation that governs the control of the major Algerian or foreign companies under to the Algerian law.