Income tax in the Gulf

[midseal]

Read an article this morning. In Bahrain, they are saying that they are proposing income tax to be imposed on expat workers. The employer will be responsible for paying the tax initially and the responsibility will be transfered to the employee in year 3:


http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/Story.asp?
Article=128138&Sn=BNEW&IssueID=28250

On another note, possible restriction might be imposed on expat workers that will allow them to work a maximum of 6 years (this does not include professions that are in high demand due to the lack of qualified nationals):

http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/Story.asp?Article=128143&Sn=BNEW&IssueID=28250

All this coupled with the uncertain future of Gulf Air, might have an impact on new expat workers in the region. Can anybody confirm or deny future a/c plans for Gulf Air. I heard that they will be getting some 777's , any truth to that???

P.S. If the links don't work , check out the gulf daily news website and look for the article dated Nov 25th.

[in limbo]

Hmmmm.
That is not sounding good.
:(
It does say that jobs that can't be filled by nationals are not covered under the 6 year thing.
Pretty sure pilots will be safe.
As for the tax thing............ It looks like there is a proposal to charge the companies who have expat workers 25 BD per month per person for the first year and it looks like it would go up after that.
Sounds expensive:eek:

[midseal]

Regardless of the amount or wether the employer compensates the proposed tax, Its still TAX, hence negates the term 'TAX FREE'.
Sure its not much (2-4%) BD 25 now but could increase to BD 50, BD 75, BD 100 and on on. We are all too familiar with how common a TAX increase can happen and a TAX CUT is something seldomly seen. Catch my drift?........