CAIRO: While the Shoura Council passed a draft bill amending Egypt’s new real estate tax law on Sunday, the issue is still hot on the People’s Assembly agenda.Members of the Shoura Council – the Upper House of Parliament – agreed Sunday to cut a proportion of the tax rate, bringing it to 12 percent of property value, down from the previous 14 percent. The law’s threshold for the property value below which real estate in Egypt is exempt from the tax was raised to reach a final LE 310,000. Property valued above that figure will be subject to a tax ranging between LE 0.70 and LE 2.50 per LE 1,000.Still, the People’s Assembly is currently discussing the draft bill. “On the Parliament’s agenda this year are the bills of the real estate tax law, the new housing law, and economic courts law, Ahmed Fathi Sorour, speaker of the People’s Assembly said on Monday at a press conference in the American Chamber of Commerce. In March, the Shoura Council approved in principle the draft bill of the economic courts law. Under the current draft bill, primary economic courts will review cases for disputes with a value below LE 5 million while appeals courts will review cases concerning disputes of an unidentified value or a value exceeding LE 5 million. The law generally aims at improving legislative processes for business disputes to expedite their resolution.Sorour – who has headed the People’s Assembly for 18 years – candidly spoke to members of the American Chamber of Commerce in Egypt, highlighting outcomes of his recent visit to Washington.”The US [financial assistance] to Egypt is not a charity. It aims to reinforce Egypt’s duties in the region, he pointed out. “The US is the world’s leader, and Egypt can play an important role in the region provided we have [economic] stability. Dollar amounts of American assistance going to Egypt have recently been shrinking. Based on embassy records, the USAID budget for Egypt for fiscal year 2005 was $535 million and $495 million for FY2006. Current planning foresees economic assistance levels continuing to fall by $40 million per year to a level of $407.5 million by 2009.Sorour emphasized that American assistance given to Egypt also helped serve US interests. “The US gives us aid [not just out the goodness of their hearts], but to help us stabilize the region. If Egypt’s stability falls, the entire region will fall, and this will affect the US interests in the region, he said.He underscored the importance of establishing bilateral dialogue between the US and Egypt on one the hand, and the US and the region on the other. “We need to establish dialogue and engage the US in [mutual] understanding because making statements is not enough. That is why; he added, the Jewish lobby is powerful in the US. Unlike Arab Americans, Jewish lobbyists have succeeded in establishing dialogue with American counterparts, Sorour explained. “Jewish forces are strong in the US because they are based on economics and [business interests]. They present an economic force. In reverse, he blamed the Arab American communities for being weak and not engaging in mutual dialogue. It is “their fault there is not enough understanding between Arab and American communities, he said.
Sorour on real estate tax law, economic courts
