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Showing 1-12 of 17 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. …

General street scene in Hamar Weyne market in the Somali capital Mogadishu
April 2025|
Blog

Why tax matters in fragile states and how donors can support it

by Vanessa van den Boogaard

Fragile contexts are home to 24% of the world’s population (1.9 billion people), and three-quarters (73%)…

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…

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…

Community driven development in Somalia
October 2021|
Blog

Citizen-led financing of public services in fragile contexts: New evidence from Somalia

by Vanessa van den Boogaard

Two billion people live in countries where development outcomes are affected by fragility, conflict, and violence….

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…

Classroom in a school in Sierra Leone
November 2020|
Blog

The inequity of informal financing of public education in Sierra Leone

by Vanessa van den Boogaard

Though education is a core duty of the state, public education in Sierra Leone is financed…

People advocating for Tax justice
July 2020|
Blog

Building coalitions to promote equitable taxation beyond the Covid era

by Vanessa van den Boogaard, Jason Lakin & Paolo de Renzio

This piece is co-published with the International Budget Partnership.  Since its onset, governments the world over…

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