KUWAIT: Several MPs have voiced their complete rejection of income tax in any form. "We will not allow our citizens to be taxed" , said MP Saad Znaifer, while fellow lawmaker Salem Al-Namlan explained the reasons behind rejecting this idea by indicating that "citizens are already suffering from increasing prices in all fields". Both MPs were ok with the state taking a fixed amount from commercial and industrial activities as tax.

Meanwhile, MP Husain Mizyed said "while a taxation law for companies could be an acceptable option, the current timing isn't suitable for the subject to be called up". Moreover, he insisted that "the MPs' position will be firm" against attempts to impose income taxes on citizens. MP Saadoun Hammad said that any form of income tax is "entirely unacceptable", while lawmaker Khalid Al-Adhwa was clear in rejecting the idea of taxing companies.

On their part, MPs Khalid Al-Tahous and Saifi Al-Saifi believe that the government should focus on improving the 'quality of life of citizens instead of increasing their suffering'. Recent reports had released what is said to be a rough draft prepared by the Fatwa and Legislation Department, for a law by which income taxes will be taken from individuals with an average KD2500 monthly pay.

The report further notes that this draft law is being looked at as a prelude for a more comprehensive taxation system that covers wider categories of citizens and residents. In another development, a power outage that lasted for several hours took place on Sunday night at several blocks in Sulaibiya, much to the chagrin of residents. They had been hoping that the Ministry of Electricity and Water would be able to avoid the recurrence of such incidents during summer.

Likewise, power supply was disconnected for a little less than an hour in parts of Industrial Shuwaikh. MEW officials explained that the power cut resulted from a malfunction in the main transformer that supplies electricity to the affected blocs. The outage in Shuwaikh was caused due to a similar glitch that took place in one of the main cables of Shuwaikh's transformer. Both problems were dealt with as soon as possible. Electricity was restored shortly, officials said.

Most employees from the MEW departments are optimistic about the selection of Salem Al-Othaina as new minister, given his long experience in the field. Meanwhile, most staff members have also been appreciative of the time spent by former minister Dr Badr Al-Shuraian . He has inked deals with several main projects enabling the ministry to overcome serious challenges, reported Al-Rai. The question that most people ask the ministry today is if Al-Othaina will follow the footsteps of his predecessor in terms of improving the quality of work to avoid supply shortages. - Kuwait Times