Bill to levy taxes on expats remittances – ‘Government may reject bill’

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TRANSFERS AMONG ISSUES UP FOR DISCUSSION APRIL 17

KUWAIT CITY, April 3: The bill to levy the remittances of expatriates has been rejected by the Parliament’s Legal Committee even though it was approved by the Parliament’s Finance Committee few days ago. It will soon undergo the voting process in Abdullah Al- Salem Hall but there is a possibility that the bill will be rejected by the government.

Rapporteur of the Parliament’s Legal Committee MP Al-Humaidhi Al-Subai’e affirmed that the committee rejected the bill to impose taxes on the remittances of expatriates because it considers such a step as unconstitutional.

He pointed out to another proposal that suggested a single penalty for all cases, without differentiating between the remittances of individuals and of companies.

MP Al-Subai’e stressed the need for the articles of the bill to be presented in an unambiguous manner when the Finance Committee refers the bill so that a precise opinion can be given when the bill is presented for voting in the Abdullah Al- Salem Hall. He said the government has to present a clear opinion if the Parliament approves or rejects the bill.

Approved
The National Assembly, meanwhile, approved the proposal to amend Private Sector Labor Law number 6/2010 for retired private oil sector employees to benefit from full end-of-service pay from 2010 to 2017 in its first reading Tuesday. The Assembly took this decision after discussing the report of the Health, Social and Labor Affairs Committee on the proposal.

The proposal stipulates that “the last paragraph of Article 51 of the current version of law number 6/2010 shall be replaced with the following: ‘The Social Security Law shall be taken into consideration and a private oil sector employee is entitled to full end-of-service pay without deducting the social security contributions paid by the company during the period of employment.” Committee Chairman MP Hamoud Al-Khodair believes the proposal will be approved in its second reading as certain comments will be taken into consideration. He said the government had earlier approved the bill in principle, so there is no room for retracting its statement.

Postpone
He explained the decision to postpone second reading of the bill is in the interest of the retired private oil sector employees, because the goal is to address some legal matters and comments in a bid to come up with a law that is 100 percent appropriate and cannot be challenged.

By Abubakar A. Ibrahim Arab Times Staff and Agencies

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