The state treasury expects to net as much as 34 billion Egyptian pounds in additional income from a bill approved by the Parliament’s Plan and Budget Committee that would tax previously-exempted institutions on returns from their investments in government treasury bonds and bills.
The new draft law “canceling the exemption decided on the returns from treasury bills, bonds and capital gains resulting from dealing on these bills and bonds from income tax” will not affect the exemptions established in the agreements concluded between the government and foreign countries or organizations International or regional.
The bill would cover specific state institutions as well as government-owned bodies such as the National Investment Bank and the Nasser Social Bank. It would also include private insurance firms and some civil society groups, the source said.
One institution that’s still getting some special treatment: The National Organization for Social Insurance, which will only see 35 percent of the gains it makes from its investments in government debt be subject to income tax; the share of taxable income could rise every three years under the bill as it currently stands.
