Politicians in Kuwait have “strongly refused” economic reforms that would involve imposing taxes on citizens in the country.
According to a report on the state-run news agency (KUNA), during a session of the National Assembly, a number of MPs called for solutions to address the country’s budget deficit – the OPEC member posted a record KD10.8 billion ($36bn) deficit in 2020, up 175 percent from a year earlier.
The report said: “During the National Assembly’s session, the MPs affirmed the need to allow the oil sector to rely on other oil-related substances to create a multi-income sources.”
However, it was stressed that this would not involve taxation – currently Kuwait does not impose income tax on income earned by individuals, although companies pay in the region of 4.5 percent of their net profits, including zakat and labour support and a contribution to the Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences.
In June 2016, the six members of the GCC signed the Common VAT Agreement, to introduce a 5 percent VAT rate. Oman, the UAE, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia have implemented the tax – with Saudi raising its VAT level to 15 percent during the Covid pandemic. Kuwait and Qatar have still to levy the tax.
Kuwait’s economy is projected to grow 7.9 percent this year, according to a recent report from Fitch Ratings.
At the meeting of the National Assembly, MPs also opposed turning residential areas into investment areas to lower real estate prices in Kuwait.
Furthermore, MPs called on the government to reduce the price of PCR tests.
It was announced this week that all kinds of public gatherings in closed places would be banned from Sunday through to February 28, “as a precaution against the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic”.
It was also agreed that, from Tuesday, all passengers coming to Kuwait must have a negative PCR test 72 hours ahead of arriving into the country.
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