‘Experts’ do it again

‘Experts’ do it again

Kipp can only sit back and wonder as the latest big insight is unveiled: Expats prefer not to pay tax.

November 28, 2010 4:01 by Samuel Potter

Emirates 24-7 was the first to break the news, but it can be only a matter of time before the major platforms of the UAE pick it up. And at the same time that Gulf News and the National are drafting their stories, the news wires will doubtless be following suit, and soon the story will be in every paper and on every channel in the world. The experts have spoken, and they have said: Expats would rather not pay tax.

Sorry for the sarcasm, but Kipp was genuinely a little shocked to find pretty much nothing else in this story of interest. Literally, some guys have said that, in their expert opinion, expatriates in the UAE would prefer not to pay tax. Furthermore, any introduction of tax would make them unhappy, and the bigger the tax introduction, the more likely the expats will be to leave. An exclusive poll completed by Emirates 24-7 backed up the experts.

According to M.R. Raghu, Senior Vice President-Research at Kuwait Financial Centre (Markaz), “Viewed from the expat point of view, if ever there is tax to come say in small measure (5 per cent or below) then they may take it in their stride and move on. However, if the tax rate were to be significant (say 20 percent), then they will prefer to move back to home country where compensations have turned very attractive.”

Kipp doesn’t know if this article is down to the experts trying to grab some publicity, or the journalist trying to grab a headline, what we do know is this: We currently have people working on our top stories for next week:

• Doctors say people who don’t eat at greater risk of starvation
• People who own pets spend more money at the vets
• Do you think the UAE gets quite hot in summer? Survey results

You’ll hear it here first. Or in Emirates 24-7.