Request for amendment of the Financial Services Tax Act as it relates to the taxation of insurance agency companies. The Act, which was adopted by the previous government despite opposition from the DZ Legislative Legal Service, will result in the loss of 600-1000 jobs, as it imposes a tax on insurance agency companies equal to the average monthly income of an insurance agency company on an annual basis. This means that insurance agency companies will be forced to lay off employees or reduce their wage bill in order to pay a tax that is discriminatory, unconstitutional and contrary to EU law. The tax is a chain tax, because it is paid by the insurance agency company and also by its subcontractors. However, this law is discriminatory for the reason that this tax is not paid by the insurance companies, which directly carry out insurance business with their employees. With a tax that represents on average one-twelfth of the annual revenues of the Insurance Agency Company, the (previous) Government is destroying a very important industry.
I call on the Government to correct the mistake of the previous Government and abolish the tax in so far as it relates to the taxation of insurance agency companies and to refund the tax already paid.
It can be replaced by raising the tax on insurance business and redistributing the burden evenly and fairly among all users of insurance services. This will safeguard many jobs and allow insurance agencies to develop and be treated equally in the market.