This paper examines the experience of Uganda in increasing tax compliance from wealthy individuals, compares its approach to that of other countries’ tax authorities, and draws lessons that they can learn from each other.
Read moreMajor taxation reforms over the past decade have been interpreted as facilitating the transformation of Lagos: once widely seen as a city in permanent crisis, it is now seen by some observers as a beacon of megacity development. Most academic attention has focused on personal income taxation, which comprises the lion’s share of government revenue…
Read moreOne of the most effective ways of increasing voluntary tax compliance is by improving tax morale. Several studies have been undertaken to examine why some individuals pay taxes while others do not. While many of these studies have been conducted at the national level, there is an increasing body of research at the subnational level. Three…
Read moreThis paper explores how the international donor community might most productively offer technical assistance to developing countries in the area of taxation, in light of the OECD’s recently completed study of ‘base erosion and profit shifting’ (BEPS). The paper addresses both the political and the technical constraints facing developing country tax administrations. It recommends that…
Read moreIt is widely believed that the governments of many low-income countries, and especially the relatively poor performers, should be aiming to increase the proportion of GDP they raise in tax revenue. There are risks in emphasising increasing revenue at the expense of other objectives. Governments also need to be concerned with questions of equity, efficiency,…
Read moreA large proportion of international trade in goods and services is conducted between what are known technically as related parties. In practice, most of this trade is between different companies forming part of the same transnational corporate grouping. This is typically highly integrated in economic and financial terms, while legally appearing as a set of…
Read moreThe objective of this paper is to help inform future tax reforms related to tax expenditure provisions in Zambia. It sets out how tax expenditures can be categorised, measured and evaluated, and provides guidance on establishing a robust framework for monitoring and evaluating tax expenditures in Zambia.
Read moreAfrica, and especially the Sahel, has experienced frequent recurrences of armed conflicts and terrorist acts in the last decade. This paper is based on six field studies, in Chad, Mali, Sudan, Tunisia, Libya and the Central African Republic. It reflects on the governance of trade in border regions during a (post-)conflict situation, exploring the practices…
Read moreIn low-income and post-conflict countries, and particularly in rural areas, citizens often pay a range of ‘taxes’ that differ substantially from statutory policies. These ‘informal taxes’, paid to a variety of state and non-state actors, are frequently overlooked in analyses of local systems of taxation. This is problematic as it leads to misunderstandings of individual…
Read moreFrom the 1950s to the 1980s, Sri Lankan governments collected a high proportion of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in taxes. They spent most of that money on mass provision of health and education services, and subsidised food. Sri Lanka was a model welfare state, with unusually high human development indicators. Contemporary Sri Lankan governments spend…
Read moreIn Part 2 of this article, the author continues her examination of the implications of the OECD’s Action Plan on Tax Base Erosion and Profit Shifting from an African perspective. Although the OECD Project covers 15 Actions to address BEPS, the low economic development of many African countries, their limited administrative capacity and general lack…
Read moreThis document provides a review of the Argentine tax authority’s structure for dealing with transfer pricing in Argentina; a chronological review of the legislative transfer pricing framework; and a very extensive listing of the transfer pricing cases that have reached different court levels. The document also summarises some of the difficulties encountered in relation to…
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