“I CAN’T DEFINE TAX EVASION, BUT I KNOW IT WHEN I SEE IT.”

— FRED T. GOLDBERG JR.

የታክስ ሥርዓት ከመንግስታዊ ስርዓት ጋር በጥብቅ የተሳሰረ ሲሆን መንግስት እንደ መንግስት ለመቀጠል ታክስ መጣልና መሰብሰብ እንዲሁም የሰበሰበውን ታክስ ለዜጎች ማህበራዊ አገልግሎት ማዋል ይኖርበታል፡፡ ታክስ የመጣልና የመሰብሰብ ስልጣን የህግ መሰረት ሊኖረው የሚገባ ተግብር ሲሆን በዴሞክራሲያዊ ማህበረሰብ የዚህ ስልጣን ምንጭ በማህበራዊ ውል (social contract) መሰረት ዜጎች ለመንግስት የሚሰጡት ይሁንታ ነው፡፡

ቼክ ጥሬ ገንዘብን ተክቶ በመገበያያነት አገልግሎት ላይ የሚውል የሚተላለፍ የንግድ ወረቀት አይነት ነው። በሀገራችን በቼክ መገበያየት እጅግ የተለመደ ተግባር ሲሆን ቼክም ሌሎች የሚተላለፉ የንግድ ሰነዶች ካላቸው እውቅናና ተቀባይነት በላቀ አገልግሎት ላይ እየዋለ ያለ እና በህብረተሰቡም ዘንድ እውቅና ያለው ሰነድ ነው። በሰነዱ ላይ ህብረተሰቡ የጣለው እምነትና በስፋት አገልግሎት ላይ መዋሉም በሰነዱ ላይ በተለያዩ ጊዜያት እና በስፋት የፍርድ ቤት ክርክሮች እንዲነሱ አንዱ ምክንያት እንደሆነ እሙን ነው። ታዲያ በዚህ ሰነድ በስፋት አገልግሎት ላይ መዋልና በሕጋችን ውስጥ ሰነዱን አስመልክቶ የተቀመጡ ድንጋጌዎችን ማሻሻል እና ክፍተቱን መሙላት አስፈላጊና ለሰነዱ ቀጣይነትም አስተማማኝ ዋስትና ነው።

As a country dealing with a pending WTO accession procedure, Ethiopia is required/expected to go through different legal reforms to have WTO-compliant domestic laws. Inter alia, the country needs to review its laws to protect intellectual properties as envisaged under the rule of WTO. However, adopting WTO-compliant rules to protect intellectual property, especially patent, exhibits a cross-road of patent protection and access to patented inventions such as pharmaceuticals. It is logical to think that strong patent protection highly challenges an eased public access to the patented invention since the very nature of patent provides a stronger exclusive right to the right holder. To systematically deal with the issue of balancing patent protection to right holders and access to medicine to the public, different countries successfully reformed their laws to facilitate access to medicine while still adhering to WTO’s patent rules. Thus, scrutinizing areas of reforms under Ethiopian patent law, to facilitate access to medicine before joining the WTO, would help the country to adopt WTO-compliant rules that exhaustively address/exploit all exceptions, flexibilities and legal loopholes available to facilitate access to medicine.

I am inspired to share this idea and bring to discussion, after hearing Christian leaders took the rare step on Sunday (25/3/2018) of closing Jerusalem’s church of the holy sepulcher in protest at Israeli tax measures and a proposed property law. Accordingly, for further discussion and research insight I raise issues related with why churches are tax exempted? What are the rationales and what about in Ethiopia?  

In this piece, I will examine the legality of and intent induced the State of Emergency (SoE) declared on Feb. 16, 2018, in Ethiopia. Throughout, I will utilise legal and public choice analytical models. To do so, I will start by giving an overview of SoE as a general practice and under the 1995 FDRE constitution. I will then employ functional analysis to highlight the functions of SoE – mainly reassurance and existential rationales. Tied to the functional review, I will discuss the possibility of abuse of function and alternatives to control an abuse through ex-ante and ex-post monitoring mechanisms.

ለመስፋፋትና፡ ለመመቻቸት፤

ተድላና፡ ደስታ፡ ምቾት፡ ለማግኘት፤

እንረዳው በጣም፡ መነሻ እርካባችን፤

ሠራተኞች ናቸው፡ መቆናጠጫችን፡፡

ከበደ ሚካኤል (ዶ/ር) ታሪክና ምሳሌ፡ 1999 ዓ.ም ‘የሠራተኞች ዋጋ’ ገጽ 54-56

መግቢያ

ሠራተኞች በሥራ ወቅት በደህንነት ጉድለት ምክንያት የተለያዩ አደጋዎች እና ጉዳቶች ሲያጋጥሟቸው ይሰተዋላል፡፡ ይህንንም ችግር ለመቀነስ የተለያዩ የሕግ፣ የህብረተሰብ ጤና እና ማህበራዊ ግንዝቤ ሥራዎች ሲሞከሩ ይታያል፡፡ በተለይም እኤአ ከ1919 ዓ.ም ጀምሮ የዓለምአቀፉ የሥራ ድርጅት (International Labour Organization/ILO) መቋቋምን ተከትሎ በርካታ ከሠራተኛ የሥራ ደህንነት ጋር የተያያዙ መርሆዎች እያደገ መምጣቱ አይዘነጋም፡፡

The problem of climate change has attracted international attention mainly because of its cross-border effects and the impossibility of solving the problem by a few nations. We know that the global climate is currently changing. Climate change is a long-term shift in the weather statistics (including its averages). For example, it could show up as a change in climate normal’s (expected average values for temperature and precipitation) for a given place and time of year, from one decade to the next. The International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has set a target to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions so that the global mean average temperature does not increase by more than 2°C above pre-industrial levels. Vulnerable areas such as parts of Africa, Asia, and the Pacific and Caribbean small island states are already facing the impacts of climate change, and so adaptation and mitigation measures are important.

Getting to Yes: Negotiation agreement without giving in by Roger Fisher and William Ury page 200+xiii, price 11.00 $ , publisher Penguin book publisher [1]

Either to earn or to learn if anyone is interested in negotiation a small but coherent book getting to yes should be a start-up book to read. As Newsweek perfectly stated it is a lucid brief for win-win negotiation which if it takes hold, may help convert the age of ‘Me to the Era of We’. [2] You can’t spell negotiation without this book.

The advent of a modern constitution in Ethiopia goes back to the 1931 Constitution which was designed to fortify an absolute monarchy. It was revised in 1955. Unlike its predecessor, the Revised Constitution had a section on the “Rights and Duties of the People” devoted to several human rights and democratic freedoms. Another constitution came in 1987 under the military dictatorship. On paper, the 1987 Constitution guaranteed civil and political rights and personal freedoms though, in practice, none of these were protected in any manner. All three constitutions made sure that the issues of group rights, such as the interest of Oromo People in Addis Ababa City, were not raised.

Labor is the most important activates of a human being crate both material productivity and social values. Now a day it is not a point of disagreement that the development of any given country is highly dependent upon high level of labor productivity, quality and efficiency. This being said, legally speaking labor right is one of the most fundamental human rights recognizing under various international instrument to which Ethiopia is a party. Furthermore, labor right is one of rights which patronizing to constitutional protection. The draft labor proclamation brought untold roaring from Ethiopia Workers Confederation Union (EWCU) and others stakeholders. This mini-article is meant to summarized and explore the draft labor proclamation.