To tax or not to tax – that is the Dubai question

* username: rupertbu

There has been speculation that the Dubai authorities are on the verge of introducing some form of taxation for at least as long as I’ve been in the UAE, the past three years or so.

Now that the financial crisis has made the logic all the more compelling, and the thinking is coming from so many authoritative bodies, you have to believe there is something in it this time.

In late 2006, long before credit crunches and collateralised debt obligations had broken upon the world, the move towards some form of taxation was regarded as a part of the policy of economic diversification away from oil dependency.