Oman began on Saturday to impose selective taxes on several commodities including tobacco and drinks. On the basis of the retail prices, Oman applied 100 percent tax on tobacco and its derivatives, alcoholic beverages and pork, and 50 percent tax on carbonated beverages. The General Secretariat of Taxation at the Ministry of Finance has uploaded the electronic notification form for the importers of selective goods on its website. The impact started to come in as soon as the new taxes were introduced, with suppliers and distributors of drinks and tobacco quoting higher prices for their customers. I bought a soda can of 330 ml at around 150 baisas (0.39 U.S. dollars) and today it is 225 baisas and 400 baisas are sold in small cafes, said Wahab al-Zadjali, a private sectors employee. I bought a pack of cigarettes for about 2.8 dollars, but today it has doubled in price, he added. Omans move followed an agreement among the Gulf Cooperation Council countries to impose such taxes to cope with the decline of oil prices and its negative effects on public revenues. The Omani government hopes that the implementation of this tax will help maintain the treasury revenues of approximately 260 million dollars per year. Xinhua
