'Arabia. Handbooks prepared under the direction of the Historical Section of the Foreign Office - no 90' [‎111] (126/148)

(pr
Arabia] PUBLIC FINANCE 111
(D) FINANCE
(1) Public Finance
Public finance, in the usual sense of the words, can
hardly be said to exist at all in Arabia, on account of
the backwardness of its civilisation, its poverty, and
the dependence on different Powers of a considerable
part of the country. For the last-named reason it is
only possible to make a few general statements with
regard to Arabian finance as a whole.
Part of Arabia is politically dependent on either
Turkey or Great Britain, and the mediatised Arab
rulers receive subsidies from the protecting Power.
In the Turkish sphere taxes are levied where possible,
while in the British sphere no taxes are levied, and
the control is limited to the payment of a subsidy by
the Indian Government on condition that no treaty
shall be negotiated with, and no financial aid accepted
from, any country other than Great Britain.
Independent Arabia, which is represented, roughly
speaking, by a broad belt of the country from
north to south, is, except in the Hadhra-
maut, extremely primitive and very little
known. Taxes are levied locally by the sultans, or
merely by the sheikhs, chiefly on the live-stock and
agricultural produce of the tribes. Much the same
state of things exists over the greater part of protected
Arabia, but in the Turkish sphere of Yemen complica
tions arise from the competition between the Porte and
the local authority in respect of the levying of taxes.
This conflict of interests is aggravated in Asir, where
the Idrisi has set up his claim to independence, and
where the payment of taxes varies according to the
political leanings of the sheikhs.
Independent Arabia includes many small tribes who
live within the spheres under protection, but who are
virtually independent. Nejd and Jebel Shammar- are,
however, the only important independent sultanates,
and Kasim is usually subordinate to one or other of