Lawmakers Slammed The Proposed Taxes On Remittances Of Expatriates

Several lawmakers slammed the proposed taxes on remittances of expatriates, reports Arab Times daily. While asserting that the proposal is “nonsensical”, the lawmakers warned that it will negatively affect not only the expatriates but Kuwaitis as well — up to the extent of intensifying feelings of hatred in the community.

According to the lawmakers whose names were not mentioned in the report, they understand the signifi cance of discussing the rising number of expatriates in Kuwait and its negative effects on the country’s population structure. “However, we will not tolerate attempts to make life harder and more economically challenging for expatriates who have been legally recruited nor do we accept threatening them every now and then with deportation,” the lawmakers asserted.

The lawmakers clarified that marginal expatriate laborers and those without visas are a totally different issue, indicating these expatriates should be deported and all those who made their entry to Kuwait possible must be held liable.

Commenting on the issue, MP Mohammad Al-Hayef argued that imposing taxes on remittances of expatriates is a violation of Islamic principles. “In Islam, people who make money should contribute 2.5 percent of their income to the community under the pillar of Zakat. Nevertheless, Zakat is an annual obligation while remittance is usually made on a monthly basis so imposing taxes on the latter is unacceptable from a religious perspective. At the same time, we have to take into consideration that it is unfair to impose taxes on the remittances of people who leave their country and live away from their family to earn a living. We must be careful because by imposing such taxes, we might be opening a window for money smuggling,” the daily quoted Al-Hayef as saying.

On the other hand, MP Safa Al- Hashem had earlier called for increasing taxes on expatriate workers. The Parliament will discuss the growing expatriate population in a special session slated for Thursday.

This session is expected to be stormy due to lawmakers’ disagreements over the issue, especially since a lawmaker previously referred to expatriates as ‘settlers’ — a term reserved in Kuwait for Israelis residing in Palestinian territories.

In other news, MP Faisal Al-Kandari has called on Health Minister Dr Jamal Al-Kandari to quickly address the expatriates’ health insurance problem after terminating the contract with the previous insurance company, indicating employers are suffering due to the large crowd in insurance centers.

He urged the concerned ministry officials to visit the insurance centers to personally see the magnitude of the problem and find ways to finalize pending transactions which have been piling up before signing a contract with an alternative company.

He pointed out that procedures have been delayed because of the absence of an insurance company in charge of processing transactions. He then stressed the need for the Ministry of Health to take the necessary action like signing a contract with an alternative insurance company.

SOURCE : ARABTIMES

Comments Post Comment

Leave a Comment

Submit