Property taxes offer a significant potential for developing cities in Africa, which crucially need revenues to fund local public services and sustainable urban planning. In 2014, Senegal adopted its current development plan, “Plan Senegal Émergent”, with the main goal of bringing the country to an emerging economy status by 2035, with the mobilisation of property…
On June 30th to July 1st, the 139 countries that are members of the Inclusive Framework on BEPS will meet online to discuss the “two pillar approach” they have been developing to reform the taxation of multinational business. The recent G7 agreement on reallocating some taxing rights for the “largest and most profitable” multinational companies…
This weekend, the Group of Seven (G7) finance ministers completed a “historic global tax agreement,” a “seismic” and “landmark deal,” that will create an international tax system “fit for the 21st century.” Or so, at least, is the narrative presented by some of the G7 folk (most prominently UK chancellor Rishi Sunak), which has been…
In recent years, the legalisation of cannabis – initially for medical use, and increasingly for recreational use – has become a common policy talking point. But can legalised cannabis production become a new revenue source for low and middle-income countries? Canada and a range of states in the US have made headlines from legalisation initiatives…
For more than 30 years, the World Health Organization (WHO) has designated May 31 as World No Tobacco Day, which aims to inform the public of the danger of using tobacco, the leading preventable cause of death in the world. A looming threat Africa is vulnerable to the tobacco industry. While global smoking rates have…
Reforming global corporate taxation Proposals from the Biden administration have injected new life into the international process to reform the taxation of multinational enterprises (MNEs), but achieving a fair and effective outcome remains problematic. Greater attention must be paid to the perspective of lower-income countries and proposals they have made for more comprehensive reforms that…
While many economists and politicians have begun to talk seriously about using wealth taxes to raise government revenue and curb rising inequality, one in every four people globally are already subject to a similar taxation model called Zakat. In the form of Zakat, Muslims around the world who possess wealth over a particular threshold are…
The Biden Administration’s proposal On March 31, the Biden Administration proposed, as part of its “Made in America” tax proposals, a 21% minimum tax on affiliates of US-owned multinationals operating in countries around the world. Under the proposal, if a US-owned company operating in a foreign jurisdiction were to succeed, perhaps through avoidance devices or…
In 2016, Nigeria’s Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council recognised that Nigeria should not be left behind in the emerging digitisation of tax processes in Africa. Working closely with the Federal Inland Revenue Service, the council introduced six key electronic solutions. The solutions included e-registration of new taxpayers, e-payment of federal taxes and stamp duties, e-filing…
As the current membership of the UN Tax Committee meets for the last time this week, Abdul Muheet Chowdhary examines how it can be reformed to better serve the interests of developing countries. The UN Tax Committee Nestled within the UN’s Economic and Social Council is a little-known but vitally important subsidiary body with the…
What is the connection between taxation and more open societies that the British aid programme aims to support? In long-term historical perspective, it is very close. The societies that enjoy the most open, democratic and accountable government are also those that tax the most – and spend the most on making life better for their…
Informal economies in North Africa have frequently captured public attention in recent years. They not only make up over half of the region’s labour force and a substantive part of its GDP, but often put workers into unsafe environments or in conflict with authorities. While Mohamed Bouazizi’s self-immolation is surely the most famous example, deaths and…
