Taxation in the MENA region: Presentations at the 7th Annual Meeting of the MENA Tax Forum, 8-9 Nov 2016

Two presentations titled “Tax Policy in MENA: Meeting the Challenges of the Future” and “Indirect Taxation Regimes in MENA” were delivered at the 7th Annual Meeting of the MENA Tax Forum held in Ankara on Nov 8-9, 2016. More coverage of the event is available here.
The presentation on “Tax policy in the MENA region” gives a current view of the trends in taxation and revenue in MENA countries, with a view to considering fiscal responses to current economic developments in the region. It addresses the tax reform challenges across the region, in the current environment, considers what measures are practical in looking at ways to increase revenue, improve equity and reduce complexity of tax systems in MENA countries.
The second presentation, “Indirect Taxation Regimes in MENA”, opens with the question of why indirect taxes are important, followed by an insight into the current and possible developments on indirect taxation system other than VAT in the MENA region. How the future of taxes would be shaped in the region also looked into 3 potential examples – tobacco taxes, sugar/ fizzy drink taxes and a carbon tax.