| Afghan government introduces first new tax, eyes windfall from Kabul property boom The Associated Press
03/31/2004
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Afghanistan's cash-strapped government announced its first new tax Wednesday, a charge on rents that could bring a windfall from Afghan landlords making a fortune from the foreign aid community. The 20 percent tax will be deducted only from rents topping 15,000 Afghanis (US$300) a month, excluding ordinary Afghans but covering the up-market offices and homes let to businesses, non-governmental organizations and pampered ex-pats. Officials said the tax _ backdated to March 20 _ could raise US$1 million this year, when collection will begin in Kabul only. "If we apply it all over the country, we could raise US$5 million a year," Deputy Finance Minister Ghulam Jalani Popal said, though he acknowledged most of the money generated would still come from Kabul. Kabul rents have skyrocketed since late 2001, when the fall of the Taliban sparked the return to Afghanistan of millions of refugees and dozens of non-governmental organizations. Construction has struggled to keep up, allowing landlords to charge thousands of dollars for crumbling villas without reliable electricity or running water that survived Afghanistan's brutal civil war and the American bombardment of the Taliban. The Finance Ministry declined to say when the tax will be introduced in the provinces, where few wealthy foreigners venture and President Hamid Karzai's officials have limited authority. The Afghan government collected almost US$200 million in revenues last year, most of it in customs revenue handed over by reluctant provincial officials. Another US$350 million had to be sought from foreign donors to balance the government's budget. Finance Minister Ashraf Ghani, who introduced a simplified customs schedule last fall, has said the government aims to raise US$308 million in the current fiscal year, which began March 21.
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