Qatar’s cabinet announced that a draft law has been approved to introduce a selective tax on some luxury goods in the country.
The Qatari cabinet announced that they approved a draft law that will introduce a selective tax on luxury goods in the near future. The statement came after the Cabinet’s weekly meeting, headed by Prime Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al-Thani on Wednesday.
The selective tax draft law was drawn in accordance with the unified GCC-wide agreement, and will most likely come into full effect next year. However, some reports say the tax could start being implemented as soon as this April.
The goods affected by the tax will be products that are considered generally harmful to human health and/or the environment, both produced locally and imported.
Authorities had already spoken about upcoming taxes last year, but had only mentioned that they would apply to tobacco, fast food and soft drinks, so it remains unclear what a tax on environment harms and luxury goods would look like.
However, the Council of Ministers hold the full right to amend the list if taxed goods as well as their tax ratio.
The Gulf Cooperation Council are also on their way to introduce a separate value-added tax (VAT) next year. It will however most likely affect businesses, and will exempt essential food items, education fees, health care and social services.
