Ammon News - AMMONNEWS - Jordan on Wednesday decided to reduce sales tax on several basic commodities to reduce the tax burden and address imbalances in taxes, the state-run Petra news agency reported.

The Jordanian cabinet took a decision to reduce the sales tax from 16 percent and 10 percent on several items to only 4 percent.

The decision is meant to reduce pressure on citizens and residents of the kingdom and reduce the impact of direct and indirect taxes. Sales tax will be lowered on basic commodities, according to the decision.

Jordan has repeatedly pledged to lower the sales tax on many commodities following the endorsement of the income tax daft bill recently.

"Lowering the sales tax will help increase consumption and eventually the purchase power of Jordanians and residents, which is very good for the economy and businesses," economist Hosam Ayesh told Xinhua.

"Reducing the sales tax will reduce the imbalances in the taxes in Jordan as the impact of the sales tax was mostly evident on the poor in Jordan and they will benefit from such a decision," Ayesh said.

Jordan is taking several measures as part of fiscal reforms under a deal with the International Monetary Fund to increase revenues and reduce the public debt.