Taxing Iraqi interpreters raises identity crisisBy James Warden, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Thursday, January 22, 2009
BAGHDAD — Iraqi interpreters worry that pay changes resulting from the new security agreement could give hostile elements in the Iraqi government access to their personal information — despite their employer’s assertions that it will not turn over any details that would put them at risk.
Global Linguist Solutions, the main interpreter contractor in Iraq, notified its Iraqi employees this month that it will begin deducting 15 percent of their pay for Iraqi income tax plus 5 percent of their pay for Iraqi social security.
Interpreters who have closely guarded their identities for fear of reprisals worry that the Iraqi government will need their personal information to credit them with paying their taxes and allow them to claim retirement benefits later.
Meanwhile, the interpreters are wondering why they are paying taxes — when even most government workers don’t.
“Khalid,” a Baghdad interpreter whose real name is being withheld for security reasons, said he feels that his employer, by asking for his personal information, “will deliver us to the government. Most of these
are controlled by the government.”
Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=60157