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Showing 73-84 of 273 Blogs
Mobile money agent in Zanzibar, Tanzania
April 2023|
Blog

How do taxes affect the price of digital financial services?

by Hannelore Niesten & Awa Diouf

How the interplay between DFS pricing and taxation affects the cost of DFS, and why transparency and competition are crucial for a well-functioning market….
Hands of two african individuals doing financial transaction with a point of sales POS terminal as Cash, Naira, Money or currency is changing hands
April 2023|
Blog

Can real-time electronic invoicing fix VAT’s problem?

by Adrienne Lees

VAT’s self-enforcement mechanism is powerful and also its greatest weakness. In Rwanda, China and Ethiopia, e-invoicing systems show promising early results in improving enforcement and compliance….
Esta Sechbeia (24) looks on as she waits for customers at a mobile money stand on the side of the road in the Tesano neighbourhood, Ghana.
April 2023|
Blog

Building trust by earmarking taxes on digital financial services

by Mary Abounabhan, Hannelore Niesten & Amrita Saha

Can earmarking provide an answer to the controversy of taxes on digital financial services such as Ghana’s e-levy? Although an unpopular policy tool, it may be a necessary evil….
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….
Pettah Sri Lanka
February 2023|
Blog

Making the IMF Work for Sri Lankans

The government of Sri Lanka is negotiating a large conditional loan from the IMF. A formal…
Ghana: A woman carries fruit on her head as she passes a mobile money stand in the Tesano neighborhood.
February 2023|
Blog

The Ghana e-levy: Can the latest rate reduction win greater public acceptance and increase revenue?

by Awa Diouf, Alex Ampaabeng, Mary Abounabhan & Hannelore Niesten

The reduced tax rate on electronic transactions is unlikely to satisfy Ghanaians given the country’s rising inflation…
Photo of man texting on mobile phone
February 2023|
Blog

Taxes on digital financial services in Africa – An unlevel playing field

by Hannelore Niesten

Taxing transactions made via digital financial services differently from those made via traditional banking services can…
January 2023|
Blog

Calling all Latin American and Caribbean Ministers to rethink global taxation

by José Antonio Ocampo

As I participate in the World Economic Forum in Davos this week, I feel a keen…
Photo of women of Takalafiya-Lapai village, Niger State, Nigeria
January 2023|
Blog

Mobile money tax: Is there a gender gap?

by Hannelore Niesten & Mary Abounabhan

Gender and tax: As Africa increasingly introduces specific taxes on digital financial services (DFS) such as mobile money, do DFS taxes exacerbate or reduce gender inequality?…
blurred man holding his ID in focus to the camera.
November 2022|
Blog

Identity issues: Four challenges for digital IDs in Africa’s tax systems

by Fabrizio Santoro, Moyo Arewa & Celeste Scarpini

From streamlining primary healthcare to amplifying agricultural outcomes, digital IDs matter. Here are some of the reasons why……
November 2022|
Blog

COP27: To what degree can environmental taxes play a role in climate financing?

by Giovanni Occhiali

The 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference, also known as the annual Conference of the Parties…
Ugandan landscape shot with a small hut in left foreground, lakes centre and right background and a yellow sign that read mobile money airtime selling in front of the hut
October 2022|
Blog

How should Africa’s digital payments be taxed?

by Philip Mader

Africa’s governments need tax revenue to fund everything from education and social welfare to paying international debts. No wonder governments are eyeing digital financial services (DFS) – a rapidly growing, highly profitable industry – for additional revenue….
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