On the table at the Cabinet meeting is Egypt's property law which has been crippled by property-owner resistance; considerations are raising the property tax exemption limit and changing reassessment standards Egypt's Cabinet, headed by Essam Sharaf, will discuss during in its meeting today amendments to be made to the property tax law, Al-Ahram Arabic-language newspaper reported. An official at the ministry of finance said that the amendments are related to increasing the tax exemption limit on annual rental income from LE 6,000 to LE 12,600, in addition to increasing the exemption limit on units valued from LE 500,000 to LE 1 million for single-unit owners and to LE 2 million for owners of more than one residential unit. Property values will be reassessed every five years and with an increase cap of 35 per cent of the property value. The official also added that the suggestion to exempt private residencies from the tax in return for exempting owners of more than one residential unit was met with refusal. Moreover, the official clarified that these amendments will be followed by changes to the executive regulations affiliated to the law, including adjusting the reassessment standards. A new property law was passed in 2009, which excludes land properties, and was never applied due to big properties' owners' resistance. After the revolution it remained frozen.
