With over 16,000 deaths globally and the number of cases growing each day, the calamitous impacts of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) are already being felt. As the virus continues to spread, the human impact in the Global South has the potential to be catastrophic as it strains weak and underfunded health systems. The economic impacts…
In 2018, the International Centre for Tax and Development (ICTD) published findings from a research study in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. While the researchers did not find any evidence of gender bias in the way market traders were taxed, they did find a major gender issue they did not expect – toilet fees. They found…
Cigarette sales in most African countries are going up all the time. But smoking rates are much lower than in high-income countries. Because of these comparatively lower smoking prevalence rates – combined with the urgent need to address infectious diseases – tobacco control policies have largely not been prioritised. Nigeria is a case in point. Preventing smoking rates…
A critical moment Next week sees a critical moment in the reform of global corporate tax rules: the plenary meeting of the Inclusive Framework on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS). The Inclusive Framework negotiations focus on the challenges created by the digital transformation of the economy, and African countries are participating in the negotiations….
The negotiations on corporate taxation at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD) BEPS Inclusive Framework initiative have rightly generated much discussion, both on the process and on the proposed changes in tax policies. Allison Christians has pointed to several concerns that developing countries have with both: the proposal is one that has maximum acceptability by the great…
The global fight over how—and where—to tax the new digital economy is raging on. Just last week, the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) published the conclusions from its investigation into France’s new tax on large tech companies, such as Apple, Facebook, and Google. The USTR found that the French tax discriminates against US companies, and…
Developing countries are making a significant contribution to the current efforts to reform international tax in the project on base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS), despite the obstacles they face in making their participation effective. It is welcome that since 2016 participation in the process was open to all countries, through the Inclusive Framework on…
In response to Allison Christians’ blog providing suggestions on how the OECD’s consultation on the unified approach could regain equal footing for developing countries, Ben Dickinson points out that the 135 members of the Inclusive Framework (IF) are working together in a participatory way. In emphasizing the need for countries to negotiate as sovereignties rather…
Across sub-Saharan Africa, ineffective property valuation presents a serious hurdle to strengthening local property taxes. Between January and August 2019 the IGC and ICTD co-piloted a simplified approach to property valuation in Freetown, Sierra Leone, that combines both surface area and easily-observable characteristics to arrive at an estimate of market value. The pilot, which built…
Those of us involved in the mining sector could be forgiven for thinking that the OECD’s program of work on digital tax reform does not apply to us. Companies such as Facebook and Amazon seem to be the obvious targets—i.e., highly digitalised businesses that operate remotely from the countries where their sales arise and thus avoid…
In her recent blog, Allison Christians usefully alerts us to some of the challenges and opportunities of the new rules on international taxation being negotiated at the OECD. However, it is important to shed some additional light on the dynamics and context of the Inclusive Framework process. The acute tensions we see in the international…
At the request of the ICTD, Professor Richard Bird generously agreed to review the new World Bank publication Innovations in Tax Compliance, which proposes a new framework to help guide the design of tax reform efforts. Richard was the founding Chair of the Advisory Group of the ICTD, and is a long term advisor to…
