MUSCAT: The 12th Regular Sessions held on Monday was chaired by Dr Yahya bin Mahfoudh al Mantheri, Chairman of the State Council in the presence of the Council members and the Secretary-General of the Council. Dr Mantheri in his opening speech welcomed the members and reviewed the agenda of the session. The Council Chairman stated that a joint session of the State Council and Majlis Ash’shura will be held on Thursday to resolve the differences between the two Draft Laws in ‘Living Aquatic Wealth ‘ and the ‘Selective Goods Tax’.
The speech concluded with the Chairman appreciating the Council’s efforts and that it culminates in national progress under the wise leadership of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos. The Head of the Economic Committee of the Council, Shaikh Mohammed bin Abdullah al Harthy presented the Economic committee’s statement on the draft tax law on selective goods, pointing out that the selective tax is primarily aimed at protecting public health by increasing the prices of a number of harmful consumer goods. He said that the draft law on selective goods tax, despite being a local law, was issued pursuant to the Sultanate’s signing of the unified agreement on selective taxation of the GCC countries.
The Head of the Economic Committee pointed that it has been taken into account that the Gulf region is a unified customs area, which must be close to tax competitiveness and non-damage to national economies. The members stressed the importance of the Draft law in protecting public health by imposing tax on goods harmful to human health. The Session today will discuss the proposal of the Education and Research Committee on the study ‘Enhancing the role of education in supporting the knowledge economy’, as well as the proposal that the Committee desires to study, titled ‘the development of the system of training at the top of education’.
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