A study compiled by the Finance Ministry's parliamentary affairs division, under Finance Minister Advisor Essam El-Naggar, shows that the Ministry of Finance has introduced two new tax laws only; namely the Income Tax Law (no. 91/2005) and the Buildings Tax Law (no. 196/2008), which are both aimed at reducing tax burdens. On the one hand, the Income Tax Law reduces taxes on earnings and salaries, while the actual application of the law has created a better relationship between taxpayers and the Tax Authority based on mutual trust.

On the other hand, the Property Tax law reduces, for the first time, property taxes to 10%, compared to 46% under earlier real estate tax law. It introduces a 30% real estate maintenance fee, deductible from the tax base. Moreover, the law raises the Real Estate Tax exemption limit up to L.E. 500,000 for each individually owned property, compared to L.E. 18 for all the property owned by a person under the old law.

The ministry has also proposed - as the study shows - five bills to amend customs tariff, two bills to regulate customs exemptions as well as an amendment to the current Customs Law. All are aimed at reducing tariff averages, fully exempting basic staples and strategic commodities, extending customs exemption to production machinery, equipment and intermediate inputs, in addition to the settlement of L.E. 1 billion in sales taxes on behalf of Egyptian producers.

As the body in charge of providing the money required for the implementation of projects undertaken by other ministries, the Ministry of Finance participated in the preparation and discussion of laws proposed by other ministries, Dr. Ghali said. The Minister himself, together with his officials, attended at least 70% of the relevant Parliamentary discussions.

The study also shows that the Ministry designed a package of laws during the foregoing legislative term, with the aim of improving citizens' incomes and providing better health and social care. These included six laws on periodic bonuses for pensioners and state employees, whose incomes more than doubled compared to 2004, as well as seven other laws on raising state subsidies within the framework of a plan to ease the burdens of the low-income brackets.

On the Financial level, the study indicates that six state general budgets had been processed in line with the electoral platform of President Mubarak, emphasizing the allocation of resources primarily for the benefit of the low-income brackets, via a scheduled rise in social expenditure items. The Ministry has been careful to promptly introduce these budgets at least three months before the due date of implementation, in order to provide ample time for discussion by MP's in compliance with the relevant constitutional stipulations.

The Ministry of Finance also engineered another package of laws, aimed at reforming the state fiscal policy, and developing its tools. The planned reforms include the Re-classification of the State General Budget Law (no. 87/2005), the Governmental Accountability Law (no. 139/2006), amending the Stamp Tax Law (no. 143/2006), amending the Resource Development Duty Law (no. 146/2006), as well as other important legislative amendments to laws on customs, social insurance and the regulation of customs exemptions, tenders and bids.