Iran’s current tax collecting campaign, inaugurated a few days ago by Premier Mohammed Mossadegh, may have a double-edged effect. It most certainly will assist in the stabilization of Iran’s precarious financial system. And, just as certainly, it will lower the prestige of the Communist party.

Under the Mossadegh plan, tax collecting commissions have been set up in every part of the country. Their purpose is to collect millions of dollars in back taxes—arrears which have been piling up since the abdication of Riza Shah, 10 years ago. [Reza Shah Pahlavii] To provide an incentive, the government will pay collectors a one per cent commission on all “business.” While such a program may result in abuses, still few will doubt its effectiveness!

For a decade nonpayment of tax levies by wealthy Iranians has been the rule rather than the exception. Some estimates report that large landholders have avoided payment of as high as 85 per cent of monies due the government. Mossadegh now demands payments in full, although he offers terms which will allow retirement of tax debts over a period of months.

The long record of inefficiency and corruption in the nation’s tax system has been fodder for Communist propaganda mills. They’ve stirred discontent everywhere by pointing out that the government insisted on collecting levies from the poor, but let the wealthy off with only token payments. If Mossadegh carries out his present undertaking—and there is every indication that he will—one of the Red’s most effective points of argument will be pulled from under their feet.

While back taxes will help Iran’s finances, it is doubtful if they will be sufficient to fill the gap left when Britain’s oil royalties stopped. But they do indicate that the government has entered a new period of vigor and realism. Perhaps if this “departure from laxity” works out successfully, the Iranian people will come to their senses and effect a compromise with British interests which will bring benefits to both parties.