Research in Brief

Taxing the Informal Economy: Challenges, Possibilities and Remaining Questions

ICTD Research In Brief 3

There is growing interest in taxing the informal economy in developing countries. This paper examines the case for giving it greater priority, and suggests that policymakers and researchers should focus less on technical design issues, and more on strategies to encourage compliance, and to increase political and institutional incentives for reform.

Authors

Anuradha Joshi

Anuradha Joshi is a social scientist with a PhD in Public Policy from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA with extensive experience in policy processes and institutional analysis. She is also a Professorial Fellow at the Institute of Development Studies (IDS). Her research interests lie in state-society relationships around the delivery of public services and accountability.

Wilson Prichard

Wilson Prichard is an Associate Professor at the University of Toronto, a Research Fellow at the Institute of Development Studies, Chair of the Local Government Revenue Initiative (LoGRI) and former Executive Officer of the International Centre for Tax and Development (2020-2024). His research focuses on the relationship between taxation and citizen demands for improved governance in sub-Saharan Africa.

Christopher Heady

Cette publication est disponible en français
Download (PDF)

Publication Details

Publisher: ICTD
Date: October 2013
Read the full paper