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Showing 1-12 of 15 Blogs
Wide shot of a series of 6 apartments complexes that are under construction in Islamabad, Pakistan
June 2025|
Blog

Pakistan’s support for wealth taxes

by Max Gallien, Umair Javed & Vanessa van den Boogaard

In a context marked by deepening fiscal constraint, wealth taxes offer a potential solution for Pakistan as they have done in many other. …
Photo of a phone screen sending mobile money load
April 2025|
Blog

Ghana’s e-levy: 3 lessons from the abolished mobile money tax

by Max Gallien, Martin Hearson & Mary Abounabhan

The e-levy’s intense politicisation and complex design made it an interesting case of a wider trend of mobile money taxes in the region. We learned more about the e-levy’s impact on informal sector workers in Accra, knowledge and sentiments, registered merchant exemptions and mobile money usage….
Wide shot of people in a street in Lahore, Pakistan.
March 2025|
Blog

Pakistanis are paying over 1.7 billion GBP in zakat every year—mostly to women

by Max Gallien, Umair Javed & Vanessa van den Boogaard

Every year, hundreds of millions of Muslims across the world pay a proportion – broadly 2,5%…
Wide shot of a large group of people facing the camera.
March 2025|
Blog

Reasons to be Optimistic about Tax and the Informal Sector

by Max Gallien & Vanessa van den Boogaard

There are many reasons to be anxious about the taxation of informal sectors in lower income…
picture of Makola market in Ghana
January 2025|
Blog

Effective and Equitable Formalisation within the Financing for Development Agenda

by Max Gallien

Max Gallien argues for key changes to the draft text of the Financing for Development outcome document, given that dominant strategies for formalising and taxing the informal economy are often ineffective and highly regressive. …
Man in protective gear throwing a box full of smuggled Malboro cigarettes in a shredding truck to destroy them.
June 2024|
Blog

Three myths on smuggling and taxes

by Max Gallien

Few topics attract as many myths and misconceptions as smuggling. As an activity that is more…
Two market traders walking by cars with baskets of goods over their heads
March 2023|
Blog

Ghana’s e-levy is unfair to the poor and misses its revenue target: A lesson in mobile money tax design

by Vanessa van den Boogaard, Max Gallien, Nana Akua Anyidoho & Michael Rogan

The levy’s effects – on Ghana’s public finances, its poor, mobile money usage –have been at the centre of intense and polarising public conversations, much of it without empirical basis….
Red vodafone mobile money kiosk in Ghana
October 2022|
Blog

New data on the e-levy in Ghana: Unpopular tax on mobile money transfers is hitting the poor hardest

by Vanessa van den Boogaard, Max Gallien, Michael Rogan & Nana Akua Anyidoho

In Ghana, the “e-levy” has been linked to the current administration’s “Ghana Beyond Aid” strategy for reducing aid dependence….
woman-in-afghanistan
March 2022|
Blog

Why do armed groups tax? It’s not just about the money

by Vanessa van den Boogaard, Max Gallien, Ashley Jackson, Tanya Bandula-Irwin & Florian Weigand

In this blog, the authors argue that revenue is only one of several motives that explain why armed groups tax….
People_informal_market_Nigeria
November 2021|
Blog

The World Bank and IMF are using flawed logic in their quest to do away with the informal sector

by Vanessa van den Boogaard, Max Gallien & Michael Rogan

Many low and middle-income countries face a myriad of challenges. But policies that can address them…
Moroccan dirhams
October 2021|
Blog

Would Moroccans accept a state zakat fund? Should they?

by Vanessa van den Boogaard, Max Gallien, Soukayna Remmal & Umair Javed

Zakat can add up to big money. Although estimates vary, some suggest that global annual zakat…
image of a cannabis plant
June 2021|
Blog

Cannabis taxation – A new revenue source for development?

by Max Gallien, Giovanni Occhiali & Soukayna Remmal

In recent years, the legalisation of cannabis – initially for medical use, and increasingly for recreational…
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