Egypt: Advertising Campaign Motivating Citizens to Pay Property Taxes

Egypt: Advertising Campaign Motivating Citizens to Pay Property Taxes
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Egypt: Advertising Campaign Motivating Citizens to Pay Property Taxes

Egypt: Advertising Campaign Motivating Citizens to Pay Property Taxes

An advertising campaign for Egypt’s Real Estate Taxation Authority (RTA) has drawn the people's attention calling on citizens to start paying taxes before mid-August.

Although the current law has been in force for nearly a decade now, but it has undergone many amendments that have hindered its work, which means this would be a new experience for many Egyptians.

"I think many citizens will respond to the advertising campaign," said Ashraf al-Arabi, former head of the RTA and current MP.

According to the law issued in 2008, the rental value of the properties is estimated once every five years. The annual tax value, which is calculated at 10 percent of the rental value of the property, is determined based on this procedure, excluding maintenance expenses.

The law has raised controversy among citizens in light of the fact that real estate represents a refuge for the Egyptian families’ investments and it has overcome several amendments. The most recent of these amendments was the 2014 taxable benefit according to the first estimate as of July 2013, provided that this assessment continues until the end of December 2018.

Head of the RTA Samia Hussein said in a statement that property owners who are entitled to tax will be subject to penalties for delay if they don’t inform the RTA of their properties before August 15.

Real estates that are prepared to be leased in summer are one of the most important havens for Egyptian families who invest in their properties during this period of the year. Therefore, the RTA tried to attract this category by announcing the possibility of paying the tax on the northern coast units and remote areas at the Authority’s headquarters in Cairo instead of doing so in a coastal governorate.

According to date by the country’s Ministry of Planning, real estate activities accounted for about 10.5 percent of the country's GDP in the fiscal year 2016-2017.

However, not all real estates in Egypt are taxable. The law exempts private housing units with an annual rental value of more than EGP 24,000 per year (about $1,300), commercial and industrial units with an annual rental value of more than EGP12,000 and other facilities such as educational institutions and non-profit hospitals



Egypt's Revenue from the Suez Canal Plunged Sharply in 2024

FILED - 17 November 2019, Egypt, Ismailia: A container ship sails through the Suez Canal. Photo: Gehad Hamdy/dpa
FILED - 17 November 2019, Egypt, Ismailia: A container ship sails through the Suez Canal. Photo: Gehad Hamdy/dpa
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Egypt's Revenue from the Suez Canal Plunged Sharply in 2024

FILED - 17 November 2019, Egypt, Ismailia: A container ship sails through the Suez Canal. Photo: Gehad Hamdy/dpa
FILED - 17 November 2019, Egypt, Ismailia: A container ship sails through the Suez Canal. Photo: Gehad Hamdy/dpa

Egypt's revenue from the Suez Canal plunged by almost two thirds last year, officials said Wednesday, attributing the sharp drop to regional tensions and wars in the Middle East that have impacted traffic through the key waterway.

The canal is a major source of foreign currency for the Egyptian government, with about 10% of world trade flowing through the waterway in recent years.

The Suez Canal Authority, which runs the waterway, said the canal generated an annual revenue of $3.991 billion in 2024, down from a historic high of $10.25 billion in 2023, according to a statement posted on its Facebook page, The Associated Press said.

Canal traffic has been significantly disrupted after Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi group started to threaten maritime trade and targeting vessels heading to Israel through the Suez Canal to pressure Israel to stop the war in Gaza, which started on Oct. 7, 2023.

Between November 2023 and January 2024, the Houthis targeted over 100 merchant vessels with missiles and drones, sinking two ships and killing four sailors. The militant group insisted the attacks would continue as long as the wars go on and have devastated shipping through the region.

According to the Egyptian canal authority, only 13,213 ships passed through the canal in 2024, marking a 50% decline compared to the number of ships in 2023, when over 26,000 ships passed through.

Still, canal authority chief Osama Rabie said that the attacks challenge the region but have not prevented Egypt from continuing to provide its navigational and maritime services in the Suez.

The International Monetary Fund reported in March 2024 that the Suez Canal trade dropped by 50% in the first two months of that year, compared to the previous year, citing attacks on vessels in the Red Sea.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s government in 2015 completed a significant expansion of the Suez Canal, adding a second shipping lane and allowing it to handle some of the world’s largest vessels.

The canal, which connects the Mediterranean and the Red seas, was opened in 1869. It serves as a vital artery for global trade — a crucial link for oil, natural gas and cargo. The canal authority operates a system of convoys, consisting of one northbound and one southbound per day.