European model of democracy and taxation ‘inefficient’

Countries in the west – especially Europe – have been left behind when it comes to economic growth because of the focus on democracy and taxation, the chief executive officer at Dubai Airports has claimed. In an exclusive interview with

Gulf Business, which you can read in full on page 46, Paul Griffiths stated that aviation tax, for example, was being used to “finance questionable and inefficient public spending” despite being “a pariah against the goals of economic growth and social mobility”.

Advocating the Dubai model – where he claimed bureaucracy was reduced, the state had direct commercial interests and public expenditure was better focused – the British CEO said: “To me, that is a very efficient and effective way of meeting everyone’s objectives. Businesses are left to function and government gets the revenues it needs to invest in public expenditure without the inefficiency of that civil service layer, which is necessary with other forms of government.

“The proportion of gross domestic product generated in Dubai by aviation is 27 per cent. Why would you want to put the brakes on that by putting the burden of taxation on its back?”

Pointing to an alleged flawed democratic approach in the west, Griffiths added: “The democratic model and the division between government and commerce come at a massive price. That price is efficiency and growth. And that’s why other regions of the world that don’t have the same administrative and bureaucratic burden tend to grow at a faster rate than those that do have that model.

“The United States is a halfway house between and is, therefore, far more resilient in times of adversity as well being able to respond quickly to growth opportunities when they arise. The European model of bureaucracy, though, is not the most effective way to run things.”