Investigation develops the fact that this Gaffir cess was claimed from
and paid by foreign residents before the war, and that the proclamation
was issued merely as a military order to facilitate the collection of a
particular and recognizable tax, ear-marked to contribute to the public
security.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
[Enclosure—Translation]
Note on the Gaffir Tax1
The Gaffir Tax was established by a Decree of November 10, 1884, as a
police regulation for the security of rural property, and as a true
complement of the land tax. Article 49 of this Decree provides
[Page 709]
in intent that “collectors
of taxes are also charged with the collection of the Gaffir Tax and
that the Sarrafs of the villages shall inform the authorities of the
names of persons who refuse to pay their quota, in order that they
may be treated as those who are in arrears with their taxes.”
Subsequently the Gaffir Tax was extended to cities by a Decree of
February 17, 1896, which, at the same time established “joint and
separate liability between proprietors and tenants of each house for
the payment of his quota as a contribution to the Gaffir Tax.”
In taking this position the Egyptian Government has kept within the
limits which were imposed upon it by international agreements
concerning real property of foreigners. Article 2 of the Ottoman Law
of the 7th of Safar, 1284, specifies in intent that “foreign
proprietors of landed property, city or rural, are likened to
Ottoman subjects in all that concerns their real property, and that
this assimilation is for legal effect:
- “1st. It binds them to conform to all laws, and to all
police or municipal regulations which govern at the
present time, or will govern in the future, the
possession, transmission, legal conveyance of property
to another, and the mortgaging of landed
property.
- “2nd. To pay all charges and taxes, under whatever
denomination they are levied, or shall hereafter be
levied, on city or rural property.”
Now it is manifest that all this taxation applies as well to the
owner as to the tenant of city or rural property, and that,
therefore, it is perfectly right that the Government address the
tenants as well as the proprietors for payment.
To insure the collection of this tax, the Egyptian Government orders
the seizure and administrative sale against the tax-payer. But these
methods of procedure are necessarily slow, and in order to avoid all
difficulty or delay during the war, the General Commander-in-Chief
of the forces of His Britannic Majesty in Egypt, responsible for
order and security, thought it necessary to support, by proclamation
these means of coercion respecting tax-payers. Under these
conditions the said proclamations were not able to be considered as
having established the Gaffir Tax since it already existed and was
perfectly legal, but simply as having been used as a mode of
additional coercion, for its collection. Consequently the
abolishment of Martial Law would not have any effect upon the
legality of the tax which continues to be due from all the
inhabitants of the territory.
