Planned Egypt ‘coronavirus tax’ sparks online criticism

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Egypt’s cabinet has preliminarily approved a bill that taxes one per cent of citizens’ salaries to cushion the impact of coronavirus on strained government finances, sparking online criticism.

The draft law — due to come into effect from July, pending parliamentary approval — imposes the deductions across the public and private sectors on employees with monthly net incomes above 2,000 Egyptian pounds (around $125).

“All governments across the world give out money to their people except for Egypt” to help cushion the effects of coronavirus, said one Twitter user.

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