Kuwait City: A controversial National Assembly member called on the government to impose taxes on expatriates living in Kuwait for the “air they breathe in her country”.
“Expatriates must be charged for everything, for medical services, infrastructure and again I say for the air they breathe here”, said MP Safa Al-Hashem. Hashem, the only female member in the 50-seat Kuwaiti parliament, voiced her stance as she expressed her objection to a proposal which was submitted by the government to study a taxation law as part of a national development plan.
“This draft law will be applied on Kuwaitis only on my dead body”, she screamed at a press conference in the National Assembly after attending a committee meeting devoted to finding jobs for Kuwaitis to replace expatriates.
She opposed any taxes on Kuwaitis before the government tackles the demographic structure which is highly in favour of expatriates.
“The number of Kuwaiti nationals is less than 1.4 million, compared with 3.2 million expatriates living in the country”, she said, urging the Government to find jobs for 14,000 unemployed Kuwaitis and tackle the problem of over 110,000 illiterate expatriates in the country, asking “why are they here in the first place”.
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