The Mystery of Kurdistan's Border Taxes

The mystery surrounding Iraqi Kurdistan’s border revenues is not just a local problem either; it's also become yet another source of friction between the region and the federal government in Baghdad.

As with the region's oil revenues, Baghdad says the money collected at the borders should also go back into the federal coffers, from where it will be redistributed.

“Iraqi Kurdistan has yet to give any statements on the revenues they collect at their borders to the federal bodies concerned,” Iraqi MP Ahmed al-Haj Rashid, the rapporteur for the Iraqi Parliament's Finance Committee in Baghdad, told NIQASH. “This has worsened already existing problems between the region and the Iraqi government.”

Rashid noted that neither Iraqi Kurdish MPs nor those in Baghdad seemed to have any idea where the money was. Why can't the Iraqi Kurdish Ministry of Finance tell us how big these amounts are? he asked. Is there no transparency in Iraqi Kurdistan? And why do only a few people seem to know where all this money is? he concluded.

(Dinar image via Shutterstock)