AKEED -- Withdrawing or amending the draft income tax law has topped the demands of followers who commented on the first tweet by Prime Minister-designate Dr. Omar Razzaz concerning the draft law. The draft law was the basis of last Thursday's popular protests, which led to the departure of the government of Dr. Hani Mulki, against the backdrop of shouts by protesters calling for its dismissal.

A monitoring conducted by the Jordanian Media Credibility Monitor (AKEED) of the comments on the tweet of Prime Minister-designate Omar Razzaz, posted on Wednesday, 6 June, showed that the demand for combating corruption and corrupt people and bringing them to justice ranked second. The comments totaled 2,100.

In his tweet, which was retweeted by 2,100 followers and which received 8,400 likes by the time this report was drafted, Razzaz said: "I pledge to hold dialogue with various parties and work with them to reach a fair tax system that does justice to everybody and goes beyond the notion of collecting revenues to achieve development, which will reflect on citizens in the country. Thus, the relationship between the government and citizens will be founded on a clear social contract, based on rights and duties."

As far as the comments are concerned, 61 followers, accounting for 2.9%, commented on the draft tax law. They either demanded withdrawing it or supported the dialogue that former Education Minister Dr. Omar Razzaz has proposed. Razzaz was one of eight ministers in the government of Dr. Hani Mulki who had active accounts on Twitter or Facebook or both, according to a previous report by AKEED.  

Some 31 followers, accounting for 1.47%, demanded fighting corruption and trying corrupt people, while 9 comments, accounting for 0.42%, called for reducing the salaries of ministers, canceling their pensions, and trying any minister who is proven to be involved in corruption. Seven comments, accounting for 0.33%, called for dissolving the Lower House of Parliament, reducing the salaries of deputies, and canceling their pensions. It should be noted that since 2010, the members of Parliament have been receiving bonuses during their term, but they do not receive pensions.

As for the rest of the demands, they included giving a role to youth in the next government and holding a dialogue with them. This was stated in 9 comments. Three comments spoke about combating poverty, while four comments highlighted unemployment, which increased from 14.2% to 18% during the two-year term of the government of Dr. Hani Mulki. Comments on youth, poverty, and unemployment accounted for 0.76%.

It is noticeable that the comments that had direct demands accounted for 5.88% out of 2,100 comments on Razzaz's tweet on Twitter vis-à-vis the controversial draft tax law. Jordanians have around 350,000 accounts on Twitter.

Three people demanded that the new government reverse a decision by the previous government on suspending exemptions for cancer patients to receive treatment at the King Hussein Cancer Center. The comments included a picture of a placard raised by protesters at the Fourth Circle. Mulki's government had suspended exemptions and tightened conditions for receiving them after transferring exemptions from the Prime Ministry to the Health Insurance Unit at the Royal Court.

Media outlets had published Razzaz's tweet under different headlined, including: "Razzaz Makes First Statement on Tax System," "First Comment by Razzaz on Tax Law That Led to Protests in Jordan," "Razzaz Tweets: I Pledge Dialogue With All Parties To Reach Fair Tax Law," and "Razzaz: We Will Work on Tax System in Jordan Beyond Collection of Revenues."