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Development of Agricultural Land Taxation in Modern Iraq

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 December 2009

Zvi Keren
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In the second half of the nineteenth century, the general upsurge of nationalism in Europe exerted an influence on the Jewish population as well. This influence was particularly strong in Eastern Europe, where there occurred a formidable Jewish nationalistic renaissance, some features of which were: the revival of Hebrew as a spoken language; the widespread use of Jewish folk-lore in the works of Jewish writers, painters, and musicians; and the rebuilding and resettling of Palestine by small groups of Jewish pioneers. The new settlers in Palestine soon adapted Hebrew (which had indeed remained very much alive through the centuries as a literary tongue) to the requirements of daily existence, and it became the language of instruction in most of their schools. At present, practically the entire Israeli population (about two million) speaks Hebrew.

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Articles
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Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies , Volume 25 , Issue 2 , June 1962 , pp. 262 - 274
Copyright
Copyright © School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London 1962

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References

page 262 note 1 This article is founded on a paper presented to the Seminar on the Economic Problems of the Middle East, at the London School of Economics in May 1961. The author wishes to acknowledge her great debt to Dr. Edith Penrose for her encouragement and helpful suggestions and comments. She also wishes to thank the Director-General of Revenue in Iraq, the staff of the Iraqi Embassy in London, the staff of Harvard Law School (International Program in Taxation), and Mr. A. K. Rasheed for their help in providing the documents necessary for this research.

page 262 note 2 Law no. 15 of 1961, al-Waqā'i‘al-‘Iraqiyyah ‘The Weekly Gazette of the Republic of Iraq’, 22 March 1961, no. 499 (Arabic). This law has been repealed and replaced in September 1961 by law 60; the main addition is the total exemption of the share of the sharecropper from the tax.

page 262 note 3 Report of the Political Officer of Hillah Division in 1918, Mesopotamia Administration Reports, 1918–20, p. 123.

page 262 note 4 There were also several taxes on produce such as the kodah levied on animals, grazing taxes, taxes on fish, vegetables, wood and brushwood, slaughtering taxes on animals, licences to sell tobacco, etc.

page 263 note 1 ‘The procedure during the Turkish times was for Mamurs to be sent out to measure and classify crops. “Measurements” were arrived at over a cup of coffee in the Sheikh's mudhif [reception tent].‘Report of Diwaniya District, 1918, Mesopotamia Administration Reports,1918–20, p. 201. Rice-fields were always measured by means of ropes.

page 263 note 2 One piastre equalled one-hundredth of a Turkish gold pound (lira).

page 263 note 3 For discussion of these taxes see Haider, Salih Mahdi, Land problems of Iraq, Ph.D. thesis, University of London,1942, pp. 520Google Scholar–30. See also Qureshi, Anwar Iqbal, Land systems in the Middle East (mimeographed study), London, Royal Institute of International Affairs, 1954, ch. xv, part II, pp. 52Google Scholar–5.

page 264 note 1 The laws referring to the niẓām al-a‘ are (1) law dated 16 Rabī‘al-Awwal 1288 A.H.; (2) law dated 24 Nisan 1323 (Rümi); (3) Amending Law no. 21 of 1927. Al- Waqā'i‘al-‘Irāqiyyah.

page 264 note 2 Law no. 35 of 1927, al-Waqā'i‘al-‘Irāqiyyah, 10 April 1927, no. 529.

page 264 note 3 Law no. 40 of 1929, al-Waqā'i‘al-‘Irāqiyyah, 1 July 1929, no. 769. Al- Waqā'iāal-‘Irāqiyyah is published weekly by the Government in Arabic and is translated into English.

page 264 note 4 The standard unit is one donum which equals 2,500 square metres or 0062 of an acre.

page 264 note 5 Second Amendment Law no. 54 of 1931 to the Land Tax Law no. 40 of 1929, al-Waqā'i‘al-‘Irāqiyyah, 14 June 1931, no. 25. According to this amendment the term cash was to be replaced by ‘quantities of standard produce’, for assessment. These quantities were converted into cash for collection.

page 265 note 1 Law no. 83 of 1931, al- Waqā'i‘al-‘Irāqiyyah, 11 June 1931, no. 933. It was a modification of this law, no. 59 of 1933, which was repealed in 1961.

page 265 note 2 These consisted of perishables, crops of little economic significance, and materials used by villagers to construct their dwellings or their implements.

page 265 note 3 A. I. Qureshi, op. cit., ch. x, part II, p. 26.

page 265 note 4 Statistical abstract, 1946–7. Budget, 1961.

page 265 note 5 Law no. 73 of 1936, al-Waqā'i‘al-‘Irāqiyyah, 9 May 1936, no. 1513. For details of the istihlāk and the land tax, see A. I. Qureshi, op. cit., ch. x, part n, pp. 25–30; Hammadi, Sadun Lawlah, Agricultural taxation in Iraq, Ph.D. thesis, University of Wisconsin, 1957, pp. 12–30Google Scholar; and Public finance, information paper: Iraq (United Nations publication), 1951, pp. 6–7.

page 266 note 1 Rain lands and lands irrigated by lift devices do not depend upon the Government for their waters; regular and irregular flow lands are watered totally or partially by Government-provided canals.

page 266 note 2 Among the various forms of tenure four main types are recognized: (1) mīrī sirf, Government lands leased to tenants; (2) mīrī tapu, Government lands alienated to copyholders, permanently, on condition that they should be cultivated; (3) mīrī lāzma; Government lands granted like tapu, except that the Government can rescind the grants; (4) mulk sirf, freehold property. The holder of tapu and lāzma can change them into freehold property by relinquishing a part of the land to the State.

page 266 note 3 Law no. 20 of 1939, al-Waqā'i‘ al-‘Irāqiyyah.

page 266 note 4 International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, The economic development of Iraq, Washington, D.C., 1952, 96Google Scholar.

page 267 note 1 International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, op. cit., 96–7.

page 267 note 2 Iversen, Carl, A report on monetary policy in Iraq, National Bank of Iraq, 1954, 234Google Scholar–5.

page 267 note 3 Traylor, O. F., Income tax revision in Iraq, United Nations Public Administration Division, Technical Assistance Administration, Baghdad, 1955, 41Google Scholar (mimeographed). See also Sadun Lawlah Hammadi, op. cit., 15, and El-Mutwalli, Tariq, The tax system of Iraq, Ph.D. thesis, American University, Washington, D.C., 1957, 267–9.Google Scholar

page 267 note 4 Jackson, Donald, Recommendations on agricultural taxation in Iraq, presented to the Minister of Finance, Baghdad, 13 July 1953Google Scholar.

page 267 note 5 Draft of land tax law for Iraq ( law), International Program in Taxation, Harvard Law School, Cambridge, Mass., 22 October 1957. Thereafter to be called the draft. A copy of this draft is found in the appendix of Hammadi, op. cit. The was originally the tribute to which unbelievers in Muslim lands were liable. By the first century A.H. the word came to mean particularly the tax paid on landed property. See Encyclopaedia of Islam, II, 1927, 902, s.v. .

page 268 note 1 According to law 60 the rates have been reduced and range from 1/2% on private rain lands to 5% on Government flow lands.

page 268 note 2 One dinar is equivalent to one pound sterling.

page 268 note 3 In law 60 the exemption is extended to dates and tobacco which are subjected to the istihlāk.

page 268 note 4 Waqf land is land endowed for religious or secular purposes, the ownership rights being subject to important restrictions. In previous legislations the waqf of the Holy Shrines and some private waqfs were exempted from taxes.

page 268 note 5 The authority responsible for the expropriation and redistribution of lands according to the Iraq Agricultural Development Law no. 30 of 1958.

page 268 note 6 A liwā' is one of the fourteen administrative provinces into which Iraq is divided; it is governed by a mutaṣarrif. Liwā's are subdivided into qaḍā's governed by qā‘im maqāms; qaḍā's are subdivided into nā1E25;iyas governed by mudīrs.

page 269 note 1 D. Jackson, op. cit., 7.

page 269 note 2 draft, ch. iii, pp. 8–17. For an interesting discussion of this classification see Wald, Haskell P., Taxation of agricultural land in underdeveloped economies, Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press, 1959, 193CrossRefGoogle Scholar–5.

page 270 note 1 Finance Authority means a senior Finance official in the liwā’or qaḍā’. In the 1961 law this appellation means the Minister, the Director-General of Revenue, the liwā’ Director of Revenue, the qaḍā’ mudīr māl, or any other official appointed by the Minister of Finance.

page 270 note 2 Law no. 40 of 1929, al-Waqā'i‘al-‘Irāqiyyah, 1 July 1929, no. 769, pp. 66–71.

page 270 note 3 D. Jackson, op. cit., 9.

page 270 note 4 draft, pp. 3, 22.

page 270 note 5 Law no. 15 of 1961, al-Waqā'i‘ al-‘Irāqiyyah, 22 March 1961, no. 499, p. 2.

page 271 note 1 ‘The question arises as to whether the ‘ should be collected in kind or in cash next year. I am of the opinion that the time is not yet ripe for collection in cash. I doubt if there is sufficient cash in the outlying parts of the country, while we require a large amount of grain for levies, etc., and can always dispose of any we collect locally. On the other hand collection in cash means a saving in anbar (storage) staff and the like.’ Report of the Political Officer of Sulaimaniyah Division, 1919, Mesopotamia Administration Reports, 1918–20, p. 15.

page 271 note 2 Report of the Political Officer of Sulaimaniyah Division, 1919, Mesopotamia Administration Reports, 1918–20, p. 10.

page 271 note 3 D. Jackson, op. cit., 4.

page 271 note 4 draft, p. 2.

page 272 note 1 A. I. Qureshi, op. cit., ch. x, part II, p. 6.

page 272 note 2 Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Center on Land Problems in the Near East, Salahuddin, , Iraq, 1955, WR 6, p. 7Google Scholar.

page 273 note 1 D. Jackson, op. cit., 5–6.

page 273 note 2 a draft, ch. iv, p. 17.