Summarised by Centrist
Columnist Damien Grant says Dubai’s rise from a desert settlement of “ten thousand souls” to a global city “cannot be explained by oil alone,” noting that oil now makes up “less than 1% of their GDP.”
Instead, he credits “foreign capital and imported labour,” combined with a deliberately limited state. Dubai has “no income tax for individuals,” a “nominal tax on corporations with firms paying 9%,” and relies mainly on a “5% Value Added Tax” and government fees.
He notes that locals make up “10% of the city,” while the rest are residents “with no right to permanence.” Despite having “no political rights, no security of residency and minimal labour protection laws,” Grant says “the huddled masses pour in,” drawn by work and safety, arguing it is “safer here than Bondi.” Welfare support, he adds, applies only to citizens, while everyone else must insure themselves or pay out of pocket.
Grant contends that Dubai directly challenges Western assumptions about governance and prosperity. He argues that the emirate shows “what happens to an economy when the state stops trying to punish the productive and reward the indolent,” and that its success suggests the “cradle-to-grave economic model funded by high taxes” is inferior.
At the same time, he warns that an authoritarian system remains vulnerable to succession, noting that “the challenge for Dubai is an authoritarian monarchy becomes subject to the whims of succession.”
