The Finance Ministry is not planning to raise stamp tax rates, Maait said at the Euromoney conference yesterday, according to Al Mal. The minister denied our report from yesterday that proposed amendments to the Stamp Tax Act would see the tax and fees hiked on electricity consumption, banking transactions, car and driving licenses, and several government documents, among other things.

But when it comes to reforming customs and tax procedures, Egypt has “a lot of work to do” to become a more attractive FDI destination, Maait told Reuters yesterday. The minister told the newswire that his ministry is working on legislation that would unify tax procedures, the first draft of which will be ready for the business community by the end of next month. The Madbouly Cabinet had approved in July proposed legislation that would introduce a series of reforms aimed at simplifying the tax payment process. The bill, if passed by the House of Representatives, would a unified system for filing taxes and pave the way for a new electronic billing and tax payment platform that would help the ministry monitor our tax accounts.