Members of the Budget and Planning Committee at the People's Assembly [Egypt's lower chamber of Parliament] criticized the Ministry of Finance for the continuous centralization of the Appeal Committee of the Tax Authority and for the failure to issue executive rules for the law of taxes on Small and Medium Enterprises (SME). Yet, SME represent approximately 90% of current activities, especially in Upper Egypt's governorates, the committee said. During an enlarged meeting in Assiut with officials from the Tax Authority and members of the Budget and Planning Committee of Assiut's local council, the members pointed to the delay in issuing guiding models to apply to the law on real estate taxes, although they had called for these models when the law had been discussed. The Committee members also criticized the failure to make free professionals pay the real estate tax because they do not have books. The Committee Chairman Ahmed Ezz said their not having books is a tragedy, labeling it as a legislative and social fault. Tax Authority Chairman Ashraf el-Arabi said there is a need to amend Article 8, which defines SMEs. He pointed out that the taxes collected in the 2008-2009 budget went up by some LE 15 billion and expected a new increase by between 7% and 8%. He pointed out that the taxes so far collected in the 2008-2009 fiscal year have been LE 141 billion, adding that the target is LE 162 billion. He also said that the number of people who have resolved their tax disputes has risen to 64,000. He then explained that collected sale taxes are as many as income ones if the taxes of oil and economic authorities and the stock of previous years are not taken into account. The chairman of the Real Estate Tax Authority Tarek Farrag said the executive regulations of the real estate tax law would soon be issued before they are applied next month, adding they would be first be applied on the northern coast and new cities.
