Expansion of Wealth Tax Raises Concerns
The expansion of the wealth tax, part of the 2026 finance law, has raised questions due to legal ambiguity and the lack of a prior assessment. This warning was issued by Iskander Sellami, an academic and tax advisor, during an interview on a private radio station.
From Targeted Tax to Broadened Tax Base
Sellami recalled that the tax, created in 2023, initially targeted only real estate assets exceeding 3 MDT. However, the 2026 text now extends its scope to almost all assets, including:
- Real estate
- Stocks and shares
- Securities
- Vehicles
- Other assets
This expansion has occurred without any evaluation of the first version of the tax.
Areas of Uncertainty Accumulate
Several points of contention have arisen:
- Bank deposits: The treatment of bank deposits has been unclear, with the Ministry of Finance initially including them in the taxable base, then removing them. This ambiguity is likely to lead to disputes.
- Professional assets: The regime for professional assets remains unclear, which could lead to conflicting interpretations.
- Lack of reliable evaluation tools: The country lacks a reliable national database for real estate and has not published a real estate price index since early 2024.
- Tax threshold: The tax threshold, still set at 3 MDT, has not been adjusted for inflation.
Plea for Fiscal Stability
According to Sellami, the priority should be to:
- Evaluate the relevance and effectiveness of existing mechanisms
- Strengthen the fight against tax evasion
- Simplify existing procedures
Rather than considering further tightening, which could burden small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), it is necessary to establish a national dialogue to build a stable, transparent, and investment-friendly tax system.
