A Step towards the Effectiveness of the Tax System (A Comparison between Religious Dues and Government-levied Tax)

When studying the nature of religious dues and tax levied by the government, the religious dues are divided into two types one of which is unchanging and fixed and the other one is variable and subject to change. Indeed the nature of the tax levied by the government in the Islamic Republic (of Iran) is not different from the religious tax; rather it is the very changing tax that has been legitimized due, mainly, to necessity and expediency on whose basis, receiving tax becomes lawful. However, since the initial taxes in the overall sktech of the Islamic tax system, are the fixed unchanging taxes and expediency or necessity is considerable where the tax revenue does not meet the need of the Muslim community, this waiver or absolution in regards to the initial taxes must be amended and must, therefore, completely comply with the procedure introduced by Islam. By studying the similarities and differences, it has been concluded that the initial taxes have all the effects of the taxes levied by the government, not to mention some of the positive features which the government-levied tax does not have. Hence, the replacement of a fixed balance by another fixed balance does not seem to be a difficult task keeping in view the fact that the initial Islamic taxes have numerous positive features.