Towards A Unified Zakat System

7.3.3 Academic fee expenditure paid to employeesThe researcher suggests that these fees, paid by a firm toits employees, must be raised to a suitable level (such as10,000 Riyals instead of 5,000 Riyals). Also that the SaudiDepartment of Zakat and Income must allow a discount, sothat the paid sum is in proportion to the increasing costsof education and children's teaching requirements. Thisalso takes into consideration increasing costs of living ingeneral. This allows firms to contribute effectively toprompting their employees to educate their children, whichin turn helps reduce illiteracy in society.7.3.4 Amount of Zakat collected by institutionThere was serious disagreement concerning the percentagesof Zakat that should be collected by Zakat institutions.The researcher suggests that it is necessary to give theZakat payer the opportunity to participate in payments ofZakat that have been deducted from his/her wealth andactivities. This is crucial, since allowing the Zakat payerto pay some of the Zakat money personally would increasethe awareness that he/she is indeed observing thisimportant pillar of Islam. One suggestion would be that theDepartment of Zakat should collect a proportion of the282