The draft executive regulations (pdf) of the Unified Tax Act are apparently not to the liking of the Federation of Egyptian Chambers of Commerce, with nearly three-quarters of its members objecting to the regulations for not delivering enough change, El Watan reports. The draft regulations, in their current form, only remove a handful of articles and amend figures in others, the federation said in its report on the draft. The draft regs, which the Finance Ministry finalized and put up for public consultation in January, introduced harsher penalties across the board for violators without taking into account the different categories of tax defaulters, head of the Kafr El Sheikh chamber Hatem Abdel Ghaffar said.

Background: The Unified Tax Act includes the creation of Egypt’s single tax platform as a bid to overhaul tax administration, encourage informal businesses to go legit, and grant authorities better oversight on commercial transactions and tax accounts. The pilot phase was launched last January in the country, with 11k of the biggest taxpayers filing returns and paying taxes via the platform. Among those giving their comments on the regs (pdf) are the Egyptian Tourism Federation, the Egyptian Federation of Investors Associations, and the Federation of Egyptian Industries.

ALSO FROM THE HOUSE-

The Senate’s bylaws earned the House of Representatives’ final seal of approval yesterday, Ahram Gate reports. In their final form, the bylaws require members of the lower chamber of parliament to obtain approval from the Senate president before traveling abroad, subject senators’ stipends to taxes, and lay out the Senate’ full mandate.