The UAE has denied recent rumors about plans to impose income tax to boost budget revenue, saying there are no such plans for the near future.
“There is no plan for the UAE to impose income taxes or any new taxes,” Finance Ministry Undersecretary Younis Khoury told the official daily Al Ittihad.
“We don’t have any plan to introduce any taxes in the near future, including direct and indirect taxes,” he added.
Khoury also denied plans for new items in the selective taxes the UAE has imposed recently and are due to be enforced next month: “There are no plans to expand the list of selective items to be taxed next month, including e-cigarettes and other products…as for value added tax (VAT), the UAE imposed such a tax in 2018 and has recently affirmed that there will be no changes to this tax until 2023.”
The UAE, a key OPEC member, has introduced fees on government services and other sorts of indirect taxes to diversify revenue in line with IMF recommendations but it has repeatedly ruled out plans for the enforcement of income taxes.
