This paper reviews the fiscal history of Ethiopia, focusing particularly on the period between 1960 and 2010, for which detailed fiscal data is available to underpin the analysis. While reviewing the key fiscal and economic events of this period, particular attention is paid to the relation between Ethiopia and its donors, which in fiscal terms…
Read moreThis paper computes and analyses the tax burden on Ethiopian corporations, measured by the average effective tax rate (ETR) on their profit. Our strongest result regards the relation between tax burdens and firm size. We find a statistically significant U-shaped relation between ETR and size. While small firms face the highest tax burden, the largest…
Read moreThis paper introduces a new dataset that codes the content of 519 tax treaties signed by low- and lower-middle-income countries in Africa and Asia. Often called Double Taxation Agreements, bilateral tax treaties divide up the right to tax cross-border economic activity between their two signatories. When one of the signatories is a developing country that…
Read moreTax experiments have been gaining momentum in recent years, although this literature dates back several decades. With new developments in methods and data availability, tax experiments have gradually moved away from lab settings and towards the field. This movement from the lab to the field has happened against the background of the ‘credibility revolution’ in…
Read moreFor over a decade Uganda’s tax-to-GDP ratio hovered between 12 per cent and 13 per cent, despite various amendments to tax laws and reforms in tax administration. Part of the low revenue contribution can be attributed to factors external to the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA), such as the structure of the economy – particularly the…
Read moreDeveloping countries tend to rely more heavily than wealthier countries on corporate tax revenue from multinational companies operating in their jurisdiction. Therefore, the practice that the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has labelled ‘base erosion and profit shifting’ (BEPS) – the diversion of taxable income by multinational groups from countries where they conduct…
Read moreThis study examines factors that determine business people’s attitudes towards paying taxes in Ethiopia. Based on data obtained from a survey of business taxpayers in Addis Ababa, the study finds a statistically significant relation between tax-compliance attitude and factors such as the perception of probability of audit, corruption, satisfaction with the tax administration, peer influence,…
Read moreA major international effort – the OECD Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) initiative aims to reduce the extent of misalignment between the profits of multinational groups, and the location of their real economic activity. Recent research using balance sheet data has shown major misalignments, with a number of small jurisdictions capturing a tax base…
Read moreThis paper considers the merits of a price-based royalty, a royalty for which the rate varies with the product price, as a fiscal instrument for taxing extractive industries. In light of the literature on natural resources taxation, the case for a price-based royalty is appealing. A price-based royalty captures some of the desirable attributes of…
Read moreThis paper argues that global corporate tax policies have long been dominated by a political consensus among governments of countries at all levels of economic development, to the effect that forces of tax competition render taxation of the cross-border income of multinational companies both infeasible and unwise. Current tax laws around the world, which permit…
Read moreGovernments that lack the capacity to mine resources themselves have to attract foreign direct investment. However, since resources are not renewable countries need to capture a ‘fair’ share of mineral resource rent to promote their development. While the sharp rise of the world prices of most minerals (in particular, gold, copper, iron and bauxite) multiplied…
Read moreMuch contemporary economic growth in Africa is driven by urban service sectors including construction and real estate. This manifests in rapidly transforming landscapes and the proliferation of valuable property in the continent’s booming large cities, often accompanied by growing socio-economic inequality. In this context, improving systems for property taxation is an urgent and growing need…
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