Fourth division devises new ways to collect taxes in Syria’s Aleppo
ALEPPO, Syria (North Press) – The Syrian government’s Fourth Division is working on setting up electronic truck scales at the entrance of the vegetable Market in order to monitor the load of merchants and collect taxes from them.
A source affiliated with the government forces in Ramouseh suburb of Aleppo, northwest Syria, said on Tuesday that the security office affiliated with Fourth Division – which is led by Maher al-Assad, the brother of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, is devising a new tax collection system by placing electronic truck scales on the entrance of the vegetable market.
The source added that the office intends to monitor the movement of goods and ensure accurate tax payment to enhance tax collection and impose new taxes on market traders. It is expected that the scale will be used as soon as it is prepared.
Recently, the security and military committee in Aleppo removed several checkpoints belonging to the Fourth Division within the city and its entrances. This action weakened the division’s revenue and prompted it to take a new approach to strengthen collection by monitoring the commercial activity within the market.
A merchant in Aleppo’s market told North Press that this measure will impact their trade and increase their expenses. Furthermore, the residents will bear the burden of these increases through higher prices of goods.
The source further explained that the Fourth Division established a tax checkpoint and demarcation point in the al-Arqoub industrial zone in Aleppo, at the exit of the factories.
This new checkpoint will not have a military presence like the previous checkpoints. Instead, it will serve as a monitoring point for goods entering and leaving the industrial zone in Aleppo.
These new measures of the Fourth Division are supervised by an individual named “Abu Nizar” from the town of Nubl in the northern countryside of Aleppo.
Abu Nizar manages the logistics of goods, fuel, and the division’s shipments. He also works as a coordinator with institutions and government agencies in Aleppo.