The annual budget, in most countries across the world, is put together during a thorough process, involving a collaboration between politicians and economists, among many other professions. This budget is used to plan the country’s projected income and any expenses for the upcoming year and is created by balancing outsources of income against the country’s expenses.
A comprehensive and progressive budget is one in which its citizens’ welfare and wellbeing take priority and pave the way for advancements in technology, environment, education, medical, exploration, etc.
However, in Iran, the well-being of its citizens has never been one of the top priorities of the budget in any of the former and present governments. The way the budgets are created makes sure that the ones who benefit immensely from them are the regime’s Revolutionary Guards Corp (IRGC) and their affiliated companies and organizations, as well as many other regime-affiliated entities.
The latest government budget, presented last week to the Majlis by the regime’s president Ebrahim Raisi, consists of two parts. The first is the General Government Budget and this includes government expenditures, departments, salaries, and development budgets. The second is focused on the ‘non-governmental’ companies and foundations affiliated with the regime, which includes the IRGC and the military.
Through these companies and foundations, billions of dollars are generated and controlled which are used solely by the regime for exporting terrorism and oppressing the Iranian society. Not surprisingly, these foundations have tax exemptions and are never audited for their income and expenses.
In Raisi’s 2022-2023 budget draft bill presented to parliament on Sunday, the government proposed a 930 trillion rial budget for the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps, IRGC. Last year that number was 380 trillion rials, and the year before, 240 trillion.
The state-run Hamdeli daily wrote in their December 13 publication that the amount of the budget that has been allocated to the Broadcasting Organization of the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRIB) stands at 5,200 trillion rials. Compared to the amount that this organization had in the 2019-2020 budget, which was 3,300 trillion rials, the current amount has risen by 56 percent, over four times higher than the increase in Iran’s minimum wage which sits at 10 percent.
Only one-third of the regime’s budget for the upcoming Persian year (2022-2023) has been allocated to public expenses with ample ambiguities and non-transparencies.
In Raisi’s 2022-2023 budget, the demands of the Iranian people have been widely ignored. According to the state-run ILNA News Agency, the inflation rates of the past year have been completely ignored by the regime.
They said, “All these issues show that we will see rising inflation in 1401, and the expenses created in next year’s budget will be added to people’s living expenses.”
Also heavily increased in next year’s budget is the budget allocation of the military, which will only lead to further domestic oppression and the continued export of terrorism abroad. The regime’s malign activities will carry on as usual with the IRGC also receiving a hefty allocation of the budget.
All the while, budget plans have stipulated that the regime plans to impose further taxes on Iranian citizens, the majority of whom live way below the poverty line and must struggle daily to meet their needs and support their families. Also, the budget has wholly refused to address any of the current crises in Iran that are seriously impacting the lives of the Iranian people.
With the volatile situation of Iran’s society… Ebrahim Raisi’s budget and its implication will prove to become a driving force for the people of Iran to bury this regime for good and bring about a democratic government.
