Casablanca Delays Tax Hike on Cafes and Restaurants Amid Economic Pressure

The vote on the amendment and supplement to the tax order setting the fees, taxes and royalties due to the budget of the Commune of Casablanca has been postponed. The critical economic situation in the country, marked by galloping inflation, explains this postponement. "Tripling the amount of the tax without consulting the representatives of the sector is not an easy decision for professionals. Some have to pay more while others, about 80% of the city’s restaurants and cafes, do not fulfill their tax obligations," says Noureddine El Harrak, president of the National Association of Cafe and Restaurant Owners of Morocco.

Calculated according to zones (A, B, C), this tax, described as "unfair" by professionals in the sector, currently varies between 2% and 10% of the receipts, excluding VAT, generated by the establishment. The project also plans to set the tax on beverage outlets in order to "improve the municipality’s revenues while preserving the rights and protecting the interests of taxpayers," reports H24info.

For Mohamed Abdel Fadl, Secretary General of the Moroccan Federation of Cafes and Restaurants, the problem is not paying the tax, but it must be done within the standards. "We are not against the increase in the tax. But this must be justified and above all discussed with the parties concerned. Contrary to the tax, the tax is linked to specific services provided by the public service. Yet we find ourselves paying, in addition to taxes and VAT, more taxes against which we receive no compensation," he laments.

But the local authorities persist in the fact that the occupation of public space systematically gives rise to the payment of a quarterly municipal tax. Instead of a multitude of taxes and duties, Noureddine El Harrak proposes the implementation of a single tax that encompasses everything. "Instead of taxing professionals on the gross turnover generated by companies, it would be wiser to do so based on the profits of each of them and that the entire companies operating in the sector, even informally, be subject to the same taxes," concludes Mohamed Abdel Fadl.