HoR Discusses Tax Laws on Income, Farmland, Central Bank Next Week

The House of Representatives ( HoR) will hold plenary sessions next Sunday and Monday. During the session, the lawmakers will show their final opinion on bills, including a draft law to amend Law No. 137 of 1958 regarding health precautions to prevent infectious diseases in Egypt.

This draft law aims to develop the ability of health authorities to confront the risk of widespread of some diseases that represent a serious threat to public health.

The repercussions of the outbreak of the novel Corona pandemic revealed the need to amend that law, which was issued before 62 years, to achieve some goals.

Those goals include adding more harsh penalties to the standing articles, authorizing health authorities to compel inpiduals to use medical masks and other protective supplies outside the place of residence and enabling health authorities to take the necessary measures to deal with bodies of the dead due to pandemics.

The lawmakers will discuss bills that include extending the period of suspending of three articles of Law No. 113 of 1939 of farmland. The draft law aims to reduce the tax burden on those working in the agricultural field to encourage them to increase agricultural production.

The HoR will also discuss another draft law to amend some articles of Law No. 11 of 1980 of Stamp Tax and Law No. 91 Income Tax issued in 2005.

Due to the imminent end of the period of suspension of the tax on capital gains resulting from dealing in securities listed on the stock exchange, and as a result of studies conducted by the Ministry of Finance, a draft law was prepared on the basis that the non-resident seller pays a stamp tax of 1.25 per thousand and the non-resident buyer pays 1.25 per thousand from the total sale price.

The resident taxpayer also bears stamp tax of 0.5 per thousand, and the resident buyer incurs 0.5 per thousand, out of the total sale value.

The plenary session discusses a draft law amending some provisions of the Income Tax Law promulgated by Law No. 91 of 2005 (3 articles); the draft law aims to determine the appropriate tax treatment of capital gains resulting from the transfer of ownership of the lands of public business sector companies and other companies in which the state owns not less than 51% of its capital, from its stumbling block, to the banks as part of the settlement of the bank debt that these companies have.

The session also discusses a draft law amending some provisions of the Public Business Sector Companies Law promulgated by Law No. 203 of 1991 (29 articles).

The draft law aims at several things, including that public business sector companies have a management that does not differ in quality and form from the administration used in other economic units not owned by the state and to grant this administration the amount of freedom that is available to its counterpart in private projects.

It also aims to reduce the role of government agencies that may interfere in the supervision and follow-up of companies so that supervision is limited to one party representing the owner and that public business sector companies can correct financing structures through self-reliance.

It also includes recycling part of the investments so that more funds can be mobilized to create new projects, create new job opportunities and that oversight is available to prevent the error before it occurs and the risk before it is resolved.

The law includes reforming companies in order to contribute to increasing production and increasing added value, and working to maximize the wealth of the owner (the state) of his investments in these companies.

Also, two important provisions regarding companies subject to its provisions included the validity of the provisions of the Companies Law No. 159 of 1981 in which no special provision was made in this law in a manner that does not contradict its provisions, and also the lack of permissibility of depriving the business sector of any benefits or imposing them on any burdens that equate them and among the joint stock companies subject to the provisions of the Companies Law No. 159 of 1981.

Parliament will complete the discussion of a draft law by issuing the law of the Central Bank and the banking system (249 articles), which was discussed until Article (51) of it.

The draft law aims to update the legislative environment to keep pace with those changes in light of the economic reform policy pursued by the state through preparing a new draft law for the bank Central and banking system.