RIYADH, 14 January 2003 — A leading member of the Shoura Council who voted against the income-tax proposal has told Arab News that the vote should be viewed as having firmly establishing the credentials of the council as an independent body which acts in the best interests of the people.

“The Shoura is a body which tackles all issues with the greatest of seriousness,” the Shoura Council member, who spoke on condition that he not be further identified, said last night.

He added that even though the imposition of income tax would have generated large revenues for the government, the Shoura decided that it would have impacted negatively on the investment environment in Saudi Arabia.

The 120-member Shoura Council voted on Sunday by an overwhelming majority to reject a bill to impose income tax on the foreign workforce, on the grounds that it was “inappropriate”.

The bill will now be sent back to the financial committee set up to deal with it, and will be redrafted in light of the Shoura’s recommendations.

Dr. Ihsan Buhulaiqa, another Shoura member, agreed that by asserting itself on this issue the Shoura has proved that is not only able but also willing to make independent decisions.

Although the Shoura Council has a strictly advisory role, and bills can only be passed into law here by the government, the decisions it makes have far-reaching implications because they are studied in great detail by the government.

The measure would have negatively affected the Kingdom’s bid to gain membership of the World Trade Organization, as well as harming its status at the International Labor Organization.

This is particularly because the income tax, starting at 10 percent for those earning more than SR3,000 per month, was applicable only to expatriates.

Saudi and other Gulf nationals were excluded on the grounds that they already pay zakah equal to 2.5 percent of their income.

Expatriates workers in the Kingdom breathed a collective sigh of relief at the news of the bill’s rejection. Many had threatened that they would leave the Kingdom if the tax was imposed because it would have eradicated the salary margin that gives them their main reason for living here.

There had been fears of a mass exodus of skilled labor if the bill had in fact become law.

Saudi businessmen also told Arab News yesterday that the Shoura Council’s decision was a “wise move” on the part of the consultative assembly.

It has incidentally met one of the requirements for membership of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), one of them pointed out, namely the ability of the government’s legislative wing to act independently and refuse to act as a rubber stamping authority.

Sa’ad Al-Wallan, chairman of the Wallan Group of Companies, said that the vote has made it clear that the council’s 120 members, who are experts in different fields, can think independently and act decisively in the Kingdom’s best interest.