Today a man came to my door with attitude, demanding that I pay the money over now. He was discourteous in attitude and quite arrogant with it. I eventually persuade him to listen to my reasons as to why I hadn't paid. He informed me that that wasn't his problem, it was the office. So I asked him how much, he replied that he didn't know and would have to phone the office even though he had a clipboard with many names on and what looked like amounts next to them.
While he was on the phone I rang my friend that was in Karnak with her brother. They arrived and started to speak to the man. He looked at me and asked who they were. I told him that it was my fiancee and her brother. I could see his demeanor change while he continued talking on the phone. Once off, he stated that Europeans had to pay a larger amount than their Egyptian counterparts and I will have to pay for both properties.
I told him that according to the official Egyptian Governments information webpage, the pricing structure was the same for everyone and you did not pay for your main property.
The result was that for a period of two and a half years I would be required to pay 835Le, then 345Le per year after that. Far less than the original figure of 1,335Le for eighteen months that initially I was quite happy to part with. If this amount is not paid by the 1st of January I will be fined 35Le.
He then asked about who owned the third flat, I gave him the information and told him the owners would be here on January the 4th, so he could pay his then.
He stated that they would have to pay for two flats. I asked why as they only owned one and the total number of flats in the block was three. But he insisted that they had two flats. So I invited him to go with my friends brother into the building so he could count them himself. But he declined, stating that he had no authority to enter a persons property, even though I was giving it to him. He just stood there looking skywards, counting the windows, which do add up to four, but the forth window is a bedroom belonging to the flat.
He said that the owners would have to come into the office to explain why their records have them down as owning two when in fact it is only one. That should be worth watching.
But a bit of good news for Who2. For some reason, probably me being flippant, I asked what if a European lived in a mud house. Would they have to pay the tax? He was adamant that no Europeans lived in a mud house, but told him that I knew of one, a time traveler by nature that has lived in the most curious of places imaginable. Sadly my attempt at levity was lost on him, but he did say that the tax is only for bricks and concrete dwellings, so, by the sounds of it, no tax payable for Who2. That is unless now that I've made him aware of this, the rules are being amended as I type.
Is it not achievable for this country to let the left hand know what the right one is doing concerning 'official matters?''
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Wonder if any detect the p*** take in this one as quickly as the former one. Doubt it.
