Aboul Enein Hails Proposed Amendments to Commercial Register, Tax Laws

MP Mohamed Aboul Enein, deputy head of Mostaqbal Watan Party, said that there is a solid link between trade and industry that cannot be separated, as any manufacturer, who produces a certain product, needs to sell what he has made.

In his word during the Parliament plenary session on Monday to discuss laws on economic and social topics, Aboul Enein said that the amendment of the commercial register law no 34 of 1976 is devoted to serve the interests of the small manufactures and owners of small workshops and factories.

He noted that the current law, which had been in force since 2017, only allows the registration of industrial companies not inpiduals in the commercial register, resulting in the failure of thousands of inpiduals and small business owners to be registered.

Thus, the new legislative amendment is required to allow the registration of those inpiduals and owners of small business.

He has finally announced his approval for the proposed amendment of the commercial register law in order to provide adequate help for the small manufacturers.

With regard to the unified tax law, Aboul Enein highlighted the great importance of the draft law, saying that it would help settle tax disputes and enable the government to collect more than EGP 4 billion in tax arrears.

“All taxation procedures will be automated via electronic systems and this will save a lot of time, effort and cost,” said Aboul Enein, adding that “this is the first time in Egypt’s history that it has a unified tax procedures law.

He added that draft law aims to make use of information technology in the automation of tax procedures in Egypt and to facilitate collection of taxes and promote the country's financial revenues to push economic development forward.

He explained that the facilitation of the collection of taxes will come through unifying four laws into one law – the Unified Tax Law.

Aboul Enein confirmed that taxes are one of the most important sources of state revenues, as they provide 75% of the general budget revenues, noting that the tax revenues amount to about 14% of the gross domestic product.

A report by parliament’s budget committee said the new law facilitates the collection of taxes by forging four laws into one.

“These are the income tax law (91/2005), the value added tax law (67/2016), the state's financial resources development tax law (147/1984) and the stamp tax law (111/1980),” said the report.

Meanwhile, parliament finally approved 12 laws tackling a variety of economic and social topics. The list includes laws on regulating healthcare for patients suffering from psychological troubles; expropriating private property for public use; regulating the activities of microfinance projects; amending the construction law (119/2008); modifying the commercial register law (34/1970); and the law on regulating medical clinical research.

Other laws approved included regulating the Egyptian Waqf (religious endowments) Authority; establishing the Fund for Supporting Physically Challenged Persons; regulating waste management; amending the electricity law (87/2015), and the law on establishing the Catholic and Anglican Church Waqf Authority.

The list includes a law on licensing the two ministers of petroleum and housing to contract the Egyptian Mining Company for utilizing salt lakes and quarries.