State MInister Under Pressure
August 4, 3705
State Minister Ioseb Chketidze has landed in controversy following an anti-tax evasion group Social Justice Alliance's decision to release leaked records pertaining to his economic activities in Narikaton and Darnussia. Chketidze is being accused of sheltering his income from his computer repair company PCF in the neighbouring country. In Narikaton and Darnussia, income tax is just a flat rate of 9% while there is no corporation tax whatsoever. This compares to Hobrazia's 58% income tax top rate and a 25% corporation tax.
Under fire: the State Minister
The records released show that Chketidze paid just 360,000 Crowns of his 17.8 million crown income in the past five years. This amounts to just under 2% of his total income every year. An average Hobratsi who earns 35,000 Crowns paid an effective rate of 19%. The Receiver of Revenue announced that an investigation would be carried and revealed that the State Minister paid just 16,730 Crowns in income tax for fiscal year 3704-5 and no corporation tax whatsoever. The Receiver said his department would issue a more comprehensive report in about ten weeks after full investigations.
'He's slit his own throat', President Tsulukidze is said to have said after hearing about the news. The 43 year old wunderkind of the VM party has thrown away the great political future many consaidered him to have. President Tsulukidze summoned senior party leaders to Astoria Castle to discuss the State Minister's fate. It looks very grim and looked more so as Patriarch Giorgi XIX piped in, at a service at the Church of Our Lady of Stormereti warning those in leadership to be 'fair, exemplary and accountable' - a not too indirect jab at the disgraced State Minister. The ever egalitarian Hobratsis were shocked and already bets have begun on the State Minister's likely successor. Favourites include Agriculture Minister Bara Zhordania and Finance Minister Irakli Nikoloz.