Public Finance and Tax Equity in the Arabian Gulf Monarchies

Department

Economics, Finance and Quantitative Analysis

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-1-2016

Abstract

This study examines notions of public finance equity in the six Arabian Gulf monarchies of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. Because of unique characteristics of government expenditures and revenues in these monarchies, many of the standard concepts of public finance (such as the Benefits Principle, Ability-to-Pay Principle, Vertical Equity, and Horizontal Equity) do not provide relevant insights. Consequently, four innovative notions of equity are reviewed and discussed: Within Group Horizontal Equity; Within Group Vertical Equity; Favored Group Horizontal Equity; and Favored Group Vertical Equity. Finally, these four conceptions of equity are applied to a discussion of potential future changes to the existing public financing systems within the countries in this region.

Journal Title

Journal of Global Initiatives

Journal ISSN

1930-3009

Volume

10

Issue

1

First Page

51

Last Page

72

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