My understanding is that if you "own" your property (via Amlak, Tamweel or whoever) the municipality will work out the tax based on the "estimated rental cost". They know what the initial price of the property was (ie direct from Emaar, Nakheel or whoever), so they take 10% of that as an estimated rental cost and you pay 5% of that 10%. In this rather clever way, nobody escapes. If anybody knows different please let everybody know.
