New Syrian Taxes

Reading KABOBfest
Worst New Syrian Tax Ever
By Guest ⋅ December 11, 2015
http://www.kabobfest.com/2015/12/worst-new-syrian-tax-ever.html

We stood by and we watched him crush protests, bomb civilians and oversee his country’s demise just so he can stay in power. But now, he’s gone too far. We must put our foot down. It is time for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to go.

On Thursday, the long-necked leader announced a raft of new taxes, including most egregiously, a 10% levy on all kabobs and shawarma sandwiches. This threatens not only to diminish meat consumption but goes against everything we at KABOBfest stand for.

Also, a Syria expert on CNN probably speculated that this tax will drive Damascus’s Alawite and Christian communities to Islamic State, where the sanctity of meat is recognized.

The tax is just plain upsetting. “Last week I had to pay 220 Syrian pounds for my shawarma sandwich instead of 200 and the restaurant owner told me it was because there’s a new 10% ‘reconstruction tax’ that’s being imposed on each sandwich,” 50-year-old Damascus resident Tony Abu George said.

“My niece, who works in Raqqa as a sex slave, tells me there’s no such tax in the caliphate. In fact, it’s like an all-you-can-eat shawarma party!”

Mabruk al-Shawareb, a spokesman for the Assad government, said the new taxes were necessary to replenish state coffers after four years of costly war against opposition forces and extremist groups, including the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS)...

--