Lawmakers and clerics have welcomed President Hosni Mubarak's comments that the newly-endorsed property tax law would be amended in order to consider a gradual implementation, urging exclusion for private residences. "We hope the Ministry of Finance will not bypass the good comments by Mubarak over the gradual implementation of the real estate tax law," independent MP Moustafa Bakri said on Monday. "However, we call on the President to slash the tax on the private houses and apartments that are owned by the majority of Egyptians," he added. Bakri's remarks followed Mubarak's announcement on Sunday that he was studying making a gradual application of the property tax, extending the period, after which properties will be re-evaluated, to ten years instead of five and starting it from only one per cent of a building's value. "We also ask for a committee to follow up on the implementation of these comments on the law," Gamal Zahran, an MP, told the Egyptian Mail. He also expressed concern that the Ministry of Finance would distort any positive amendments. Youssef Boutros-Ghali, the Minister of Finance, said Mubarak's remarks would be tackled with the aim of adding them to the law, stressing that the gradual implementation of this kind of tax will benefit the citizen. Meanwhile, a member of the Islamic Research Centre, an influential arm of Al-Azhar, said that levying taxes on houses was not part of the Sharia (Islamic law). "Taxes cannot be imposed on the necessities of life, like food, medicine, clothes and one's residence, simply because one can never do without them," Sheikh Mohamed el-Mokhtar el-Mahdi said. He added that this property tax had nothing to do with Islam. Since the Ministry of Finance proposed the property tax bill last year, it has proved very controversial. There have been many points of contention on how the tax rate will be calculated and the exemption limit. Some significant amendments were introduced to the bill by the Monetary and Economic Affairs Committee of the Shura Council (the Upper House of the Parliament) to make it more convenient for all sectors of society.
