This Briefing has been prepared by the BEPS Monitoring Group (BMG). The BMG is a network of experts on various aspects of international tax, set up by a number of civil society organizations which research and campaign for tax justice including the Global Alliance for Tax Justice, Red de Justicia Fiscal de America Latina y…
It is well documented in the literature that developing countries raise less tax revenue as a share of their economy than their developed counterparts. Part of this gap can be explained by the relatively higher tax evasion in the former. Recent literature shows that increasing the availability of information reduces evasion, by increasing the probability…
Read moreThis study explores how small business owners talk about their tax responsibility, especially in non-enabling institutional contexts. It identifies two main types of tax responsibility discourses amongst these business owners: (1) duty-based and (2) rights-based. The duty-based talks see taxation primarily as the citizens’ responsibility to governments, which should always be fulfilled unconditionally, while rights-based…
Read moreWe lack good indicators of the quality of national tax administrations, especially for low-income countries. The situation is, however, improving. Through the relatively new TADAT process (Tax Administration Diagnostic Assessment Tool), an increasing number of national tax administrations are receiving scores from teams of peer reviewers on how well they perform in nine key functions….
Read moreApplying transfer pricing rules in Africa poses great difficulties. There are few reliable comparables to benchmark prices and terms fixed by related entities in their transactions with each other. This means that jurisdictions struggle with applying the arm’s length principle in intra-firm dealings, as prescribed by tax treaties and domestic laws. Furthermore, the requirement for…
Read moreThe global consensus to treat multinational enterprises (MNEs) as separate entities for tax purposes requires them to act at arm’s length in the transfer of goods and services, especially setting the prices of such transfers. This means that, although in practice they are integrated entities under the ownership and control of a parent company, operating…
Read moreTax is a major source of government revenue. Many countries prioritise mobilising domestic resources to finance government spending. However, many factors influence the revenue generated by taxation, including the population’s level of compliance with tax expectations. A country’s ability to raise funds from tax depends on the level of tax compliance. Tax compliance refers to…
Read moreWhile there is much speculation about Nigeria’s probably post-oil future, it is in fact already a present reality: In 2015, for the first time since 1971, Nigeria’s public finances had already earned more from non-oil sources than from oil revenues. The transformation to a post-oil future is already in the past.
Read moreThis paper examines the potential for changes in the tobacco tax to contribute to raising government revenues, reducing tobacco use, and improving public health in Nigeria. Specifically, it estimates the impact of a change in the excise tax structure and level on cigarette consumption, government revenue, smoking prevalence, net-of-tax (NOT) revenue, and the excise tax…
Read moreUganda was among the first African countries to embrace a decentralised system of government in the 1990s. The objective of this policy was to bring services closer to the people while at the same time enhancing local participation and democracy. The success of decentralisation was, however, greatly dependent on the amount of funds and other…
Read moreThe financial crisis of 2007–2009 is now broadly recognised as a once-in-a-generation inflection point in the history of global economic governance. It has also prompted a reconsideration of established paradigms in international political economy (IPE) scholarship. Developments in global tax governance open a window onto these ongoing changes, and in this essay we discuss four…
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