مجموعة ٢٨ /٦٧ "بلاد فارس: تقارير سنوية، ١٩٣٢-" [و‎‎٣‎٧] (٦٤٤/٧٣)

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414. Dr. Lindenblatt was still in Tehran under interrogation at the end of
the year. There was little doubt that there was sufficient material to convict him
of fraud, but the Persian authorities hesitated to bring him before the courts
for fear that they might lose the benefit of a possible private arrangement whereby
the doctor would voluntarily return a portion of his illgotten gains. The
counsellor of the German Legation actually informed a member of the staff
/*His Majesty’s Legation in this connexion that Dr. Lindenblatt had offered the
Persian Government 200,000 reichsmarks, or, roughly, £22,000, to be allowed to
go free.
New Road Tax Law.
415. A new Road Tax Law, to come into force at the end of September and
replacing the original Road Tax Law of the 6th February, 1926, was passed by
the Majlis on the 30th August.
416. As was the case with the old law, a scale of taxation is laid down on
the gross weight of imports and exports. The latter are to benefit by an export
bonus system, while the former are to provide the increase in revenue which is
expected from the new law.
417. Higher taxes mainly affect the luxuries, the import of which is
prohibited under the Trade Monopoly Law, so that the general public remain
unaffected, but they will result in an appreciable increase in the cost of living of
His Majesty’s consular officers and the employees of the Anglo-Persian Oil
Company, who, in the south, cannot do without a variety of imported food-stuffs
and other “ luxuries.” The resident director of the company estimates that this
increase in taxation will affect it to the extent of £40,000 a year, in spite of its
greatly reduced staff.
418. On the subject of the export bonus His Majesty’s Minister reported
as follows in his despatch No. 391 of the 10th September
“ I have been in some doubt whether or not to protest against the
principle of the export bonus, such a bonus being contrary to the spirit of
article 3 of the Tariff Autonomy Treaty of 1928 and not provided for under
the exchange of letters enclosed in Tehran despatch No. 238 of the 23rd May,
1928. I have decided not to do so pending an expression of the views of His
Majesty’s Government. Past experience shows that the Persian Govern
ment are never at a loss to find arguments to satisfy themselves that the
action they have taken can be legally justified, and the cumulative result of
ineffective protests is not good. Furthermore, the practical effect of export
bonuses should be an automatic increase of imports in a country where the
whole machinery of government is directed to making the volume of imports
depend on that of exports. Teymourtache would undoubtedly maintain that
this being theoretically indisputable, we had, as importers, nothing to
complain about. .... ^ j i • ^
“As is frequently the case when a measure of doubtful wisdom or
questionable legality is introduced, the export bonus is being represented as
a weapon to be used against the Soviet Government, the idea being that the
bonus will not be given in respect of Russian purchases for export in cases
where it is established that the Soviet purchasing agencies have, by the
exercise of the means of pressure which they command, obtained their goods
unduly cheap.”
419. Article 6 of the law stipulates that the revenue from these road taxes
is to be allotted as follows :
2,606,607 rials to public instruction,
724,130 rials to sanitary institutions,
878,800 rials to charitable institutions,
5,000,000 rials to the Tehran Municipality,
3,000,000 rials to provincial municipalities,
and the balance, minus 3 per cent, for costs of collection, to the Road Fund.
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