Finance Minister Youssef Boutrus-Ghali met with advisers and officials of the tax authority Thursday to review his proposed real estate tax bill in light of President Hosni Mubarak’s recent remarks on it.
Real Estate Tax Authority President Tarek Farag said that only 10 million tax declarations had been received from the public so far, attributing the low turnout to the ongoing controversy over certain aspects of the draft legislation.
In a related development, officials from the holding companies for electricity, drinking water and sewage met to discuss how the new tax regime would affect their respective businesses, since these former public-sector companies had been privatized and must now file for taxes.
Official sources warned that these companies might raise their service charges in order to offset the taxes they were now obliged to pay, which could result in even more pressure on low-income segments.
Translated from the Arabic Edition.
