Reports the Peninsula newspaper:

DOHA: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is putting pressure on Qatar to impose taxes but the country has been reluctant since a tax regime would mean higher inflation, which would cause suffering to the people.

This was disclosed on Tuesday by the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, H E Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem bin Jabor Al Thani, at his annual meeting with businessmen at the Doha Sheraton.

“There is IMF pressure on us to introduce taxes, but we have been ignoring it since we don’t want the prices to go up,” said the Premier.

An economist told the Peninsula that income tax on individuals and corporate tax on Qatari businesses – currently nonexistent – would eventually raise the costs of both public and private enterprises.

He argues that as Qatar has a fairly independent and robust gas-fuelled economy, it has no need for the taxes, and can resist pressures from the IMF.

However, no reason is given as to what benefit the IMF or the international community stands to gain from implementing said taxes. Frankly, I’d like to know – why would the IMF pressure Qatar to implement more taxes?

Photo by Jules Rincon, and published under Creative Commons on Flickr