19/02/2000
Al-Alam Alyom Newspaper 2000/FEBRUARY /19
Egypt’s business community is currently split over whether tax exemptions on new cities should be lifted or kept. Those who are for lifting them believe such a move would attract further investors, and would allow the State to play a different role in the economic life. As for those against lifting the exemptions, they believe that Egypt cannot do without them if it wants to attract investments. (Available in Arabic – German in PDF )
Egypt’s business community is currently split over whether tax exemptions on new cities should be lifted or kept. Those who are for lifting them believe such a move would attract further investors, although they realize that tax exemptions are not the only reason why an investor chooses to inject his or her money into a foreign market. Instead of these exemptions, the state could instead tax projects since the moment they kick off, but at a lower rate. The State would play a different role, similar to that of the Clinton’s administration when the US economic performance achieved unprecedented results. However, things in Egypt over the past few years have not gone the way these economists hoped, and land prices, for instances, have instead risen. As for those against lifting the exemptions, they believe that Egypt simply cannot do without them if it wants attract investments.