ICTD study on zakat garners media attention as Ramadan concludes
ICTD’s work on zakat, led by Informality and Tax co-leads Max Gallien and Vanessa van den Boogaard, along with Umair Javed, was featured in several news outlets and wires, including Arab News, Ground News, HT Syndication, Daily Times, Press News Agency, Propakistani, The International News, Geo News, and MSN.
Giulia Mascagni pens a Letter to the Editor of the Financial Times
ICTD Executive Director Giulia Mascagni published a letter to the editor of the Financial Times on the need for “responsible donors” to support tax capacity building in the context of aid budgets being slashed.
Giovanni Ochialli writes piece for ‘The Conversation Africa’ on taxing the wealthy
ICTD Research Fellow Giovanni Occhiali wrote an article for The Conversation Africa outlining strategies African countries can adopt in order to tax their wealthy citizens more effectively, based on a recent ICTD Policy Brief, co-authored by Occhiali, Giulia Mascagni, Wilson Prichard, and Martin Hearson.
The article was then republished by over 20 media outlets across the continent, including Africa Leader, Africa Press, Modern Ghana, South African Business News, The Independent, The African Mirror, and AllAfrica (also in French).
ICTD study on tax relations in fragile contexts featured in ASI blog
A blog published by global think tank Adam Smith International (ASI) discussed in depth a recent ICTD working paper authored by Gayatri Saghal on fiscal relations in the context of fragility, with a focus on he case of Somalia.
VoxDev blog cites ICTD research
A blog on improving tax payments in Liberia by World Bank economist Oyebola Okunogbe on VoxDev references two ICTD-produced research: one on the politics of taxpayer registration (ICTD Working Paper 160) and another on nil-filing in Rwanda (published in the World Development journal, based from ICTD Working paper 106).
VoxDev is a collaboration between the Centre for Economic Policy Research, the International Growth Centre, adn the Private Enterprise Development in Low Income Countries programme.
ICTD research on tax treaties in Africa cited in Tax Notes report
An article by Tax Notes on ‘The Termination of Tax Treaties by Developing Countries‘ cited a 2019 ICTD-produced research reviewing tax treaty practices and policy frameworks in Africa, written by Catherine Ngina Mutava. The news report quoted the research, saying:
“The officials [from revenue agencies] interviewed were of the view that tax treaties were used, in some instances, as tools for cementing diplomatic ties, without considering the economic impact of the treaties on the tax base. In many instances, the treaties were used as a tool to attract [foreign direct investment] despite the lack of evidence directly linking tax treaties with the level of FDI.”
Frederik Heitmüller cited in Tax Notes article on UN tax convention talks
ICTD Associate Postdoctoral Fellow Frederik Heitmüller weighed in on likely scenarios as negotiations for a new UN Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation (UN Tax Convention) progress in 2025, in a Tax Notes article.
Heitmüller said it’s “important for Global North countries to be involved in the process somehow”, particularly in finding a cooperative solution on how to tax cross-border digital services, which many developing countries and emerging economies would like the convention to tackle.
“If you want to find a consensus solution between countries on how to tax [cross-border digital services] in a way that does not generate double taxation or that taxes net income as closely as possible, then you need the Global North on board,” he said, as quoted in the report.
Read the full article here, and click here to know more about our work on International Tax.
Max Gallien discusses smuggling in North Africa on CSIS podcast
ICTD Research Fellow Max Gallien talked in-depth about his work researching smuggling in North Africa during an episode of the ‘Babel: Translating the Middle East’ podcast run by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).
“[W]orking with communities is really important in dealing with smuggling. It has an even stronger economic aspect to it, and even stronger recognition of the degree to which communities have been economically dependent on it,” he said.
This is what “makes it so difficult to engage with policymakers on this issue, because it als makes it often vey expensive to deal with,” he added.
Listen to the podcast here or read the transcript.
ICTD’s Digital Tax Administration conference in Rwanda rakes in local and regional media coverage
ICTD’s conference entitled ‘Towards a Digital Tax Administration: Lessons learnt and directions for reform‘, co-hosted with the Rwanda Revenue Authority from 12-13 December in Kigali, Rwanda, received significant coverage from local and regional media.
Highlights include:
- CNBC Africa: Digitising tax administrations in Africa
- Igihe: Tax administrations urged to harness AI to modernize tax systems ; Ikoranabuhanga ryongereye 95% by’umusoro ku nyungu ukusanywa ; RRA yiteze umusanzu ku ikoranabuhanga rya ‘Digitax’ mu kunoza imitangire y’imisoro mu Rwanda
- Taarifa: Tax administrations urged to harness AI to modernize tax systems
- The New Times: Digital transformation poised to transform tax administration – experts
- Coverage by at least three TV broadcast channels, namely RwandaTV, TV1 Rwanda, and TV10 Rwanda.
Sierra Leone media outlet mentions ICTD Fellow Max Gallien
An article in Sierra Leone-based news outlet Awoko mentioned ICTD Research Fellow Max Gallien who met with the delegation from Sierra Leone’s National Revenue Authority during the IMF and World Bank annual meetings in Washington, D.C. in October.
Gallien was quoted saying: “We’re excited about the potential to expand our current research partnership.” Read the full article here.
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.