Friday 19 / April / 2024
Muscat: The new sin tax which will be coming into effect in a few months will affect the lives of many citizens and residents in the Sultanate.
Here is an in-depth look into the origin, aims and objectives of the tax. The Excise Tax Law (ETL) is a tax on selective goods and commodities.
The new law which comes into effect in mid-June will increase the tax by 100 per cent on the following commodities, tobacco and its derivatives, energy drinks, certain types of meat and its products, and alcoholic beverages.
The tax on soft drinks will increase by 50 per cent. “The new Excise Tax is part of a GCC-wide agreement, which will help promote a healthier lifestyle within the society, and will support the state’s budget with revenues that can be redirected to enhance healthcare and social services,” the Government Communication Centre (GC) said.
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According to the centre, the tax came in place to address the negative health or social phenomena and practices. The Council of Ministers first referred a draft of the tax law to the Oman Council on May 31, 2018. Since then the law was reviewed by the Shura and State Council then submitted to His Majesty by July 2018. In the months following that, the draft law was returned to Oman Council where they discussed and approved articles of disagreement.
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On March 13, 2019, His Majesty the Sultan issued a Royal Decree which stipulated that the law will take effect 90 days following the date of publication in the official Gazette. The Excise Tax has been implemented by GCC states in stages in accordance with the Common Excise Tax Agreement (2016). Saudi Arabia was the first GCC country to implement the tax law in 2017 followed by the United Arab Emarites that same year.
In 2018, the Kingdom of Bahrain joined the list of countries which introduced the law. Qatar and Oman are both set to implement the Excise Tax in 2019, which will mean that Kuwait will be the only GCC member that has yet to implement the law.
