The new Egyptian parliament began its legislative work by approving a bill to increase "the resources of the Fund for the Honoring of Military and Police Martyrs in War and Terrorist Operations" by imposing fees and taxes on employees and citizens, but it ignored the inclusion of doctors victims of the Corona virus, which angered social media activists, and questions about Continuing the policy of financial cuts from the pockets of Egyptians
There are no official figures on the resources of the fund, nor the money that is supposed to devolve to it annually, or the number of families of the army and police that benefit from the project, nor the proceeds of the fund compared to the dues of those families covered by the law.
What is noteworthy in the law is that all its resources are deductions from employees' salaries, and fees for a number of government services that citizens also pay for, amid questions about the role of the state in light of the citizens ’incurring additional costs to increase the fund’s resources.
On the one hand, the new law angered citizens:
Because it increases the deductions imposed on them, in addition to taxes and fees, and it also disappointed doctors on the other hand, who were relying on the new parliament to address their crisis and respond to their demands.
For the benefit of the victims of "terrorist operations" .. Approval of new taxes on citizens in the first session of Parliament pic.twitter.com/PA4KGCt5yi
- Al Jazeera Egypt (@AJA_Egypt) January 18, 2021
Return to square zero
During the session, the Speaker of Parliament, Counselor Hanafi Jabali, commented on the demands of some parliamentarians to include the victims of Corona from the doctors into the law, that the matter needs a new bill from the government or the Ministry of Health, which means returning to square zero, according to Rashwan Shaaban, a member of the General Syndicate Council. For doctors.
Rashwan revealed in his interview - to Al-Jazeera Net - that the doctors will continue to communicate with the Minister of Health in this regard, and said, "We hoped that the case would end with the convening of the new parliament, especially since we received promises from the Prime Minister to treat Corona victims the treatment of martyrs of the army and the police, and to save lives." Gracious to them. "
Regarding the amendments to the Medical Professions Law, which include the establishment of a fund to compensate for the risks of medical professions, which was approved by the President of the Republic, Shaaban explained that the fund was not formed, and its executive regulations and disbursement mechanism have not been established, and that all that is happening so far is the collection of the funds stipulated in the decision.
5 pounds for services and documents of state bodies and institutions ... # Parliament approves a new tax on citizens for the benefit of the Fund to honor victims of "terrorist" operations and their families, according to local newspapers pic.twitter.com/fUyqbLhrDZ
- Al Jazeera Egypt (@AJA_Egypt) January 17, 2021
The government requests and Parliament agrees
The Egyptian government justified the increase in the fund’s proceeds with the abundance and multiplicity of its commitment towards compensating the families of the victims of the army and the police, providing health and educational care, sports, cultural and recreational activities, Umrah, Hajj, and other multiple benefits.
Critics of the decision believe that the new parliament law, the first in its legislative laws, reflects the continuation of the deduction policy required by the government and approved by Parliament, which threatens more taxes, deductions and fees.
While deputies in the new parliament defended the law, Abd al-Hadi al-Qasabi, head of the Social Solidarity Committee in the House of Representatives, said, "This is the least thing the parliament can offer to those who sacrificed their lives for the future of this country."
He indicated - in parliamentary statements - that the committee is also working to provide job opportunities for these and their families, as regulated by law.
Parliament amends the law on honoring the martyrs of the army and the police to provide job opportunities for their families ... and Mina Mina: This is the right time to include martyrs of medical personnel in Corona
Mona Mina: The right of martyrs of the medical professions is clear and does not need discussion and persuasion .. We need to hear voices defending this right under the dome of Parliament https://t.co/NBkHWJadpX
- khaledelbalshy (@khaledelbalshy) January 17, 2021
Series of taxes and deductions
And the analytical statement of the draft budget for the fiscal year 2020-2021 showed that the Egyptian government plans to increase taxes and reduce government support for petroleum products.
The Ministry of Finance aims to increase tax revenues by 12.6% to about 964.777 billion pounds (61.5 billion dollars), according to Reuters.
During the past year, the Egyptian government took several decisions to increase budget revenues and taxes, imposed huge fines for building violations, and collected more than 17 billion pounds ($ 1.1 billion), the outcome of a quarter of the value of violations, and extended the reconciliation period until the end of next March.
Last May, the former parliament approved amendments to the laws of developing state resources by increasing fees imposed on some government services, and introducing new ones on some activities, consumer goods and bills.
Last December, the Egyptian government decided to limit the support provided to ration cards to a maximum of two children per family, while the family bears the burdens of the third child, under the pretext of facing the crisis of the steady increase in population.
The Egyptian government has deducted 1% of net employee income and 0.5% of retirees' pensions, starting from July 1, 2020, for a period of 12 months, in order to contribute to facing the Corona pandemic crisis.
In the following month, the Egyptian Ministry of Transport raised the prices of tickets for the three subway lines, which carry about 3 million passengers a day, at rates ranging between 40% and 60% in order to develop services.
Glory be to God, in the military state, you feel
that the martyrs of the army and the police is a sacred thing
While the martyrs of doctors are the ones who are in the forefront of the scene, and
they are primarily supported by the army and the police who
ransacked the
country and
even in order to reduce the high percentage of doctors' emigration since the pandemic.
His first cause for the new parliament of shame pic.twitter.com/tG6iE9uGh0
-'Aron and the world is not ours 😓😓 (@m____mmmmm) January 17, 2021
Citizen and Magic Pocket
The economic expert, Ahmed Zikr Allah, questioned the ability of this policy to solve successive economic crises and impose it on citizens, saying that "budget revenues for the current year amount to about one trillion pounds, that is, more than 80% of taxpayers; and then the citizens are charged with deductions and other fees. Unacceptable".
The economics professor pointed out - in his speech to Al-Jazeera Net - that the basis for this is that the state budget bears the expenses of these funds in the expenses section, not the pockets of citizens.
Because they pay annual taxes collected by the state in order to re-spend them in such matters and other expenses.
And the law indicates that there is a major defect in the state budget - according to the economist, God remembers - as a large part of it goes to paying the installments and interest on debts, whether domestic or foreign, which have reached unprecedented levels, and then revenues and taxes remain much less than the volume of expenditures, adding that If these revenues were available without the debt installments and their interest, the state budget would have recorded a surplus unprecedented in its history.
Activists on social media criticized what they called the policy of distinguishing between "civilian" and military, and the military enjoyed several benefits, and many exemptions related to taxes, tickets or fees, and health insurance in the best hospitals. They also denounced the continuation of the series of collection from the pockets of citizens.
As of yesterday, Monday, the deaths of doctors due to the Corona virus had risen to 325.
The groups benefiting from the bounties of Egypt
1- Sisi and his entourage
2- The army, the police and the judiciary
3- The exposed businessmen
4- The artists and football players
5- The media and journalists exposed
6- The police thugs
7- Every corrupt employee
is this which considers Egypt the mother of the world, the
poor and the honorable, the shepherd of the revolution.
- 🌷🌱FUaaDA🌱🌷 (@aldahashna) January 17, 2021
Instead of working a train from the coast to Hurghada, with $ 23 billion, I spend on the martyrs of the army and the police, and free of charge from the people’s predominance, a thief. And those who will come from the people are the families of the martyrs. They will only spend the pension and the fund and nothing else.
- Hassan (@ 0ke6G8pwLkGkFNY) January 17, 2021