Adrienne Lees pens piece on tax compliance costs for Ugandan firms for The Conversation Africa
ICTD Doctoral Fellow Adrienne Lees published a blog on the cost of tax compliance for small and medium-sized enterprises in Uganda, in the context of the country’s “increasingly complex tax system”.
“The complexity of Uganda’s tax system makes for a time-consuming tax filing process, compounded by low taxpayer knowledge and high levels of distrust in teh Uganda Revenue Authority. The time, money, and effort incurred by taxpayers tomeet their tax obligations adds to their total tax burdens,” she argues. Read the full article here.
The blog was also carried by at least three local and regional outlets, including Uganda Business News, AllAfrica, and The Independent.
Martin Hearson weighs in on 15% global tax deal in The Conversation Weekly podcast
ICTD Research Director Martin Hearson, who also leads the Centre’s International Tax programme, was interviewed in a recent episode of The Conversation Weekly podcast about the October 2021 global tax deal that requires large multinational companies to pay at least 15% in corporate tax.
Max Gallien, Vanessa van den Boogaard, and Umair Javed pen op-ed on Zakat work
ICTD Research Fellows Max Gallien and Vanessa van den Boogaard, co-leads of the Centre’s Tax and Informality Work, along with Umair Javed, pen an op-ed on the Dawn on their work on Zakat and Pakistan.
ICTD-RRA paper cited in The New Times
The New Times, a leading media outlet in Rwanda, cited a joint reflection paper by ICTD and the Rwanda Revenue Authority (RRA), originally published in 2021, in a report on how the country intends to implement a tax on digital services. Read the article here.
Max Gallien, Martin Hearson, and Mary Abounabhan reflect on Ghana’s scrapped e-levy on The Conversation Africa
ICTD researchers Max Gallien, Martin Hearson, and Mary Abounabhan wrote a piece for The Conversation Africa on the lessons learned from the scrapped electronic transfer levy (e-tax), which was later widely carried by media outlets across the continent, including Africa Leader, Ghana News, Africa Press, and Modern Ghana.
Giovanni Occhiali weighs in on taxing the wealthy in premier South African news channel
Newzroom Africa, one of South Africa’s most-watched TV news channels, interviewed Giovanni Occhiali on effective strategies to increase the tax contributions of high-income countries across the continent. Watch the report here.
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.”