The difficulties of taxing digital TNCs Taxing Trans-National Corporations (TNCs) that do business through digital platforms is a complex issue for governments. The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has been examining the tax challenges of digitalisation of the economy under Action 1 of a global project named Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS)….
Trump’s new investigation is only the latest skirmish in this new divide. Last week, President Trump ordered an investigation into France’s new tax on Apple, Facebook, Google and other large digital companies. The administration is considering strong retaliatory measures, on the grounds that it unfairly targets U.S. companies. This is the latest stage in a long-running…
Tobacco companies are zeroing in on one of the last global markets still ripe for exploitation: the African continent. Much of the tobacco leaf and some of the manufactured cigarettes produced on the continent are exported. These exports earn the foreign currency that’s attractive to the finance ministries of tobacco producing countries. But increasing amounts…
British civil servants sign up to core values enshrined in the Civil Service Code: integrity, honesty, objectivity and impartiality. Implicit in these is evidence-based practice, which in turn suggests the need for a steady flow of relevant research. Although I have been reading research during many years working in DFID, it was only when I…
This blog was jointly authored by Wilson Prichard (ICTD), Nora Lustig (CEQ), Sanjeev Gupta (CGD), Warren Krafchik (IBP), Ian Gary (Oxfam), and Brahima Coulibaly (Brookings). See their biographies on the right. This week over 170 policymakers, government officials, and members of academia, civil society and international organisations will gather in Berlin to discuss the future…
With the plastic waste crisis gaining increasing attention, both developed and developing countries are under pressure to find solutions. Bans of single-use plastics have not succeeded in many cases. Could taxing plastic production be the answer? India’s plastic problem India generates over 25,000 tonnes of plastic every day, 40% of which is neither collected nor…
Just over a week ago, the Kenyan High court declared the double tax avoidance (DTA) agreement between Kenya and Mauritius unconstitutional. Here are some thoughts from two of our experts on the topic: Reflections from Catherine Ngina Mutava The ruling on the legality of the Kenya-Mauritius DTA presents an interesting situation. First, the declaration that…
Nigeria’s performance on collected taxes is poor. Non-oil revenue in the country is around 3-4 percent of GDP, far below countries such as South Africa and Brazil where non-oil revenues lie between 20 and 25 percent of their GDP – or other peers in sub-Saharan Africa who typically collect more than 10 percent of GDP…
The international tax event of the year took place on the 13-14th of March in Paris. It was the public consultation on Tax Challenges of Digitalisation of the Economy, organised for the Inclusive Framework on BEPS (Base Erosion and Profit Shifting), by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). For those who could not…
There is an international consensus that taxation is a critical means for financing sustainable development. It is estimated that a minimum tax to GDP ratio of 15% is required in order for countries to provide basic public goods and services such as infrastructure, healthcare, education, and security. However, despite Nigeria being the largest economy in Africa, it…
Local governments (LGs) across Uganda have recently been looking for ways to improve yields from their property tax systems. The main reasons for this growing interest are the rapid urbanisation taking place in the country, and the increased pressure from city dwellers for public services. Some property tax reforms have shown success in identification, valuation…
About two years ago, the ICTD began a new research program on gender and taxation with the support of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Following a workshop with our African stakeholders in Ghana, we decided to pursue two main areas of enquiry 1) the representation of women in African tax administrations, and the impacts…
