Lets talk about Taxes.

[DuXcK]

Do we have anything called TAX here in Oman?

what about having a TAX on your monthly salary and a TVA on anything that you buy from any store?

Properties owning taxes.

All sort of taxes <img src="/threads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />. It will be fun, right ?

[Rohit]

there is the corporate TAX (tax on profit by companies)...
then there is customs Duty (on import of goods)
then there is the labor Tax (110 (?) rials per year for expatriates)
then there is the holding tax of 15% for payments other than goods out of the country.

I beleive the govt now levies a road tax for road travel to Dubai.

[Neo]

Yeah I heard that too, it would be something like 2 rials per car?

[Invincible]

I think that's good enough taxes for now!

What more do you want to suggest Duxck? <img src="/threads/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" />

[Karim]

The fundamental requirement for taxation is fare representation. Government cannot just tax people, and not being held accountable how those tax money are used. This is one of the basic dilemmas in the Arab world, particularly the GCC.

Modern economies are run very differently from how Oman and other GCC countries are run. In a modern, democratic, country, people and enterprise work to make money, which is taxed by the government, who use the money in turn to provide government services, from the armed forces to municipal waste collection. Every baiza the government takes in form of Tax must be accounted for; it#8217;s the people#8217;s money.

This is one of the many reasons; power-sharing arrangements are slow to come by in the GCC. It is a give and take arrangement. The government give some power to the people, and in return, the people are to be taxed for the services they get, and the government privatize government businesses, and so on and forth. Some politicians call this devolution; it#8217;s more like evolution to me. On the other hand, for any devolution, there must be an equal and opposite evolution.

[DuXcK]

Fom what you guys said:

I concluded that we have to KNOW HOW TAX MONEY IS SPENT before we start paying any tax, right Karim ?

In the current political systems of the GCC world, we cant make sure of where the money goes, right Karim ?

Now, Where does the money that we are already paying (as Rohit said) go ?

We are enjoying lods of services and I assume that these came from the Tax we are paying, right everyone ?

If we are enjoying the money that we have paid, then, why not paying a bit more and having more joy ? <img src="/threads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

[Invincible]

Before we increase taxes, we should have a simple system which is well communicated to the citizens so they know why and what their tax money is spent on. It should be simple. Look at America, it's so complex believing it's the only way to accurate computations, but it's just time consuming and expensive. Many big corporations pay big sums of money to file their taxes.



The taxes should also be stable, if there's always changes, then people wont understand the codes of taxations, and it will complicate long-term financial planning. Most important of all, the taxpayers must have confidence in the law.



The primary purposes for taxation is to raise money not to manage the economy subsidies and penalties.



The whole idea of taxation is to promote economic growth through various avenues.



As for the tax money, it should be spent on security,

health services, transportation, education, housing, defence, debt interest, agriculture, law, employment, environment etc..