Mick Moore pens op ed on new property tax in Sri Lanka
ICTD Research Fellow Mick Moore wrote an op ed for the Daily Mirror on the “Imputed Rental Income Tax”, a new property tax introduced in Sri Lanka as agreed by the government and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Moore said in part: “The new tax will produce little revenue for several years. Worse perhaps, it would directly encourage tax evasion, and make the tax system seem even more unfair, obscure or ridiculous. It would not build the public support needed to make the tax system more effective in the longer term.”
Read the full article, entitled ‘Property Taxes: No Thanks but Many Thanks to the IMF’, here.
ICTD brief on taxing mobile money in Africa cited in Agence Ecofin article
Agence Ecofin, a Francophone Pan-African media outlet that focuses on economic news, highlighted in a report the findings of ICTD Policy Brief 10, entitled “Taxing Mobile Money in Africa: Risk and Reward“.
“While taxing monile money services in Africa could increase government revenue, it may negatively impact the poorest households if small transactions are not exempted,” the article stated, referencing the ICTD brief.
Shift in Global Tax Governance – article cites ICTD research
In this article for Modern Diplomacy, Andi M. Ilham analyses Asia’s Stance on recent and seismic shifts in global tax governance, citing ICTD Working Paper 172 on Inclusive and Effective International Tax Cooperation: Views from the Global South.
ICTD gets media coverage on the #RejectFinanceBill2024 protests in Kenya
We roundup the interviews, mentions, and citations in the media of ICTD researchers and their work on news relating to the recent protests against the Finance Bill 2024 in Kenya and beyond:
- CBC News’ video explainer ‘Kenyans fought a deadly fight against their government. Here’s how they won I About That‘ features our Research Fellow Wilson Prichard.
- An earlier article on The Africa Report, ‘Kenya: Could Ruto’s hated taxes spur cleaner government?‘, citing ICTD research conducted by Prichard, has made the rounds online recently in light of events in the last few weeks.
- ICTD authors Mario Schmidt and Eric Magale pen an op-ed for The Conversation Africa on the recent protests, linking it to their forthcoming working paper on reactions towards new digital taxation laws in Kenya and the need to renew the social contract, which is part of our DIGITAX Research Programme.
- ICTD Executive Director, Giulia Mascagni, is quoted in this article published by Liam Taylor in The Economist: The lessons of Africa’s tax revolts (economist.com)
ICTD policy brief on digital IDs and digital payments cited in BiometricUpdate.com report
ICTD Policy Brief 7, entitled ‘Digital IDs and Digital Payments – Opportunities and Challenges for Tax Administration’ was cited by BiometricUpdate.com, a specialist news outlet that focuses on developments in the global biometrics market, in its report on talks of tax reforms involving digital IDs in Nigeria.
The brief, as quoted in the report, notes that “digital identity and digital retail payments are ‘potential catalysts to improved tax outcomes’.”
ICTD blog on digital IDs and tax administration in Ethiopia cited in media reports
Research produced under ICTD’s DIGITAX programme on the integration of digital ID systems with tax administration systems was cited by the following news outlets:
- BiometricUpdate.com, a specialized news outlet that focuses on developments and research about the global biometrics market.
- Ethiopia-based Fana Broadcasting Corporate.
Both articles refer to a blog written by our Doctoral Fellow Seid Yimam Mohamed and Research Fellow Fabrizio Santoro, published in May 2024, that discusses five potential benefits of integrating Fayda, Ethiopia’s national digital ID system, with tax administration systems, drawing lessons from the experiences in Uganda and Ghana.
Martin Hearson weighs in on UN tax convention negotiations in Law360 article
ICTD co-Research Director Martin Hearson shared his insights with Law360 on the recently concluded first round of negotiations for the terms of reference of the United Nations Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation.
Hearson, who leads ICTD’s International Tax programme, spoke about the capacity deficit that lower-income coutnries face in participating in such processes, saying: “Part of the way to overcome that capacity deficit is for countries to collaborate more outside of negotiations themselves, so that the people who do attend can credibly represent a larger constituency, which is something the OECD countries are quite used to doing already.”
He also weighed in on digital services taxation and transfer pricing, among others. The full article, entitled ‘5 Goals Gov’ts Have For The UN Tax Convention’, can be accessed here.
DIGITAX workshop on taxing mobile money garners media attention in Ghana
The two-day DIGITAX Research Programme workshop in Accra on ‘Taxing mobile money: Lessons and ways forward’, hosted by the Ghana Revenue Authority in partnership with ICTD, received coverage in several media outlets during the end of February and beginning of March. Among them are:
- “Insights on Ghana’s e-levy: What do we know nearly two years on?” story on Modern Ghana and Ghana News
- “‘E-levy must be sustained otherwise the country will depend too much on loans’ – GRA” story on Modern Ghana
- “‘Older, more educated Ghanians more likely to support E-levy’ – Report” story on Modern Ghana
- “Study Reveals Age, Education Influence Support for Ghana’s E-levy Among Informal Workers” on BNN Ghana
- “E-levy roped in informal sector into the tax net – GRA” story on GhanaWeb
- “E-levy affects the poor more than the rich – Research” story and interview with ICTD Research Director Martin Hearson on GhanaWeb
- “Stakeholders Call for E-Levy Review” story published on Ghana News, GH Headlines, and Daily Guide Network
ICTD research on duty-free imports of electronic transmission products in Africa cited in Tax Notes
ICTD Working Paper 181, entitled ‘Are Trade Rules Undermining Taxation of the Digital Economy in Africa?’, was cited in a report by Tax Notes on the recent renewal of the World Trade Organization’s moratorium on custom duties for e-commerce.
Institute of Development Studies Research Fellow Karishma Banga, who co-authored the paper with Alexander Beyleveld, was also quoted in the piece, saying in part:
“The moratorium has constrained the ability of African and developing countries to raise tax revenue from the steadily growing imports of electronically transmitted products.”
Read the full Tax Notes article, entitled ‘WTO Ministers Renew Moratorium on Custom Duties for E-Commerce’, here.
Mick Moore and Wilson Prichard cited in Time.News on increasing tax revenue
ICTD founding director Mick Moore and executive director Wilson Prichard were referenced in a Time.News article on increasing public revenue in African countries.
The news item featured recommendations made by the two ICTD researchers from an earlier published working paper, entitled “How Can Governments of Low-Income Countries Collect More Tax Revenue?”.
Read the artice here.
Mick Moore publishes op-ed piece in Sri Lanka’s Daily Mirror
ICTD founder and Professorial Fellow Mick Moore has penned an op-ed, entitled “Wanted: An Authentic Minister of Finance Sri Lanka Has Not Had One, For Three And A Half Decades”, for Sri Lanka’s Daily Mirror.
He said in part: “Other than [Mangala] Samaraweera [(2017-2019)], a couple of the people who have briefly held the post of Finance Minister since 1988 have been figureheads. For the most of that period, the post has been held by the incumbent President. It follows that the President/Minister of Finance, could not exercise any independent influence over economic and fiscal policy, or query or check government financial decisions.”
Read the full article here.
Mbakiso Magwape quoted in fDi Intelligence article on corporate minimum tax
Mbakiso Magwape was interviewed and quoted in an article by fDi Intelligence, a Financial Times-run service, about the nearing implementation in some countries of the 15% global corporate minimum tax.
In the article, Mbakiso said in part that “the steady progress being made in Europe has ‘triggered a call to action’ by regional tax bodies which want developing countries to stop dragging their feet”.
Read the full the article here.
