Expats, employers worried over Saudi tax proposal

JEDDAH/DUBAI (Reuters) – Expatriates in Saudi Arabia and their Saudi employers alike voiced unease about a proposal the government is studying to impose income tax on foreign workers to make up for falling oil revenues.

Around a third of the 30 million inhabitants of the world's top oil exporter are foreigners, many of them drawn, despite ultra-conservative social restrictions, by the absence of tax and the lure of salaries higher than they could secure at home.

A National Transformation Plan of economic reforms, released on Monday, said 150 million riyals ($40 million) had been set aside for preparing and implementing tax on expats, but Finance Minister Ibrahim Alassaf said no decision had yet been taken.

Still, the news that such a proposal was being formally studied by the government was enough to alarm some foreign workers.

"If they impose the income tax on expats and do not offer any benefits in return, such as house ownership and the right to own assets under my name, then I would pack up and leave," said Ammr Baghdane, an American manager at a retail group.

No further details have been released on what such a tax might entail for residents – a category that includes all non-Saudi citizens. Among the unanswered questions: whether it would cover all income levels and all professions, or how long it would take to introduce.

"I guess it depends on the rate they're talking about. If it's five percent it would annoy me but wouldn't make me leave my career here and resign. If it was 20 percent then I wouldn't stay, that's for sure," said a British banker in Riyadh.

Like some of the others who spoke to Reuters, the banker asked not to be identified, as his employer might frown on speaking to the media in a country where public debate over policy is politically sensitive.

The collapse in oil prices after mid-2014 has pushed Saudi Arabia to contemplate a radical overhaul of all parts of its economy, including new taxes, privatisations, a changed investment strategy and sharp cuts in government spending.

"If you want to increase your non-oil revenues by a significant amount, they have to come from a combination of fees and indirect taxes. They cannot be met without some taxation for foreigners at some point," said John Sfakianakis, a former adviser to the government and economist with the Jeddah-based Gulf Research Centre.