Rodent

Oil Revenues Hard to Come By? Try taxes!

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Ah yes, sin taxes.

I can't safely comment too much about this as I live in a Muslim majority country, but I roll my eyes when the so-called "sin taxes" get cranked up by certain governments in order to tax predominately religious minorities.

One unintended side effect is it tends to also crank up the black market, to avoid the hefty taxes.

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I don't know....100% tax on pork meat in a Muslim country (without a significant Chinese population or pork industry) sounds like a real revenue earner to me!

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The tobacco tax will hit everyone. I remember smoking was very popular in Arab countries a while ago and I've no reason to assume things have changed that much although who knows...

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(edited)

7 hours ago, Tom Kirkman said:

One unintended side effect is it tends to also crank up the black market, to avoid the hefty taxes.

Then again, if the penalty for bootlegging a pack of smokes is set at a public beheading by sword, it just might dampen the enthusiasm for joining that black market.  Just sayin'. 

Edited by Jan van Eck
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(edited)

9 hours ago, Jan van Eck said:

Then again, if the penalty for bootlegging a pack of smokes is set at a public beheading by sword, it just might dampen the enthusiasm for joining that black market.  Just sayin'. 

Doubtful since cigarette smoking is hard to quit.  I watched people walking around with chemo drips smoking cigs in the Park at MD Anderson when I was there 12 years ago.  I quit smoking when I was 25 and have never regretted it but it was very difficult to do and I had tried hard twice before.

Edited by wrs

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What was the tax on alcohol and pork before?  I suspect it was already high.

love Oman, and the crowd hitting Shanga La, they’ll hardly notice.

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