Egypt's tax authority announced Friday a y-o-y 15 percent increase equivalent to 28 billion Egyptian pounds ($3.15 billion) in its tax revenues for the financial year 2015/2016. According to tax authority chief, Abdel-Moniem Matar, the country recorded a 15 percent rise equivalent to 13 billion pounds in its income tax revenue in FY2015/2016 Revenues from sales tax also surged 14 percent or 14.7 billion pounds, Matar added. Egyptian government had previously declared its goal to shift from the sales tax to the value added tax both in the FY 2015/2016 and FY 2014/2015, which coincided with President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi's term. Yet, President Sisi held legislative authority for a year and a half before the election of the parliament earlier this year, he did not issue the VAT bill. The former finance minister Hany Qadri previously said that the transition to the VAT would contribute to higher inflation rates ranging from 2-3.5 per cent. The cabinet approved the VAT bill on May 16 and referred it to the State Council, an advisory body to the government, before sending it to parliament for discussion. The VAT draft law is part of a government fiscal reform programme aimed at cutting energy subsidies and reducing a ballooning deficit by introducing new taxes.
