Tobacco and energy drink prices are set to double in the UAE, which is imposing steep excise taxes to help ease a budget shortfall caused by low oil prices, AFP reported Wednesday (September 27th).
Khaled al-Bustani, director general of the newly established UAE Federal Tax Authority, said Wednesday that the 100% tax would be introduced from October 1st.
Prices of other types of soft drinks will increase by 50%, Bustani told a press conference.
He declined to say how much the UAE will raise from the tax.
The decision stems from agreements reached by the six-nation Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) to raise the prices of those products, then impose a long-awaited value-added tax (VAT) from the start of next year.
The GCC states -- Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE -- have been hit hard by a slump in oil revenues, which make up the bulk of their national income.
