Working Paper 135

Tax revenue in many low-income countries is inadequate for funding investments in public goods and human capital. While tax systems have been adopting new technologies to improve tax collection for many years, limitations to in-person interactions due to COVID-19 have further highlighted the role of information technology in tax mobilisation.

This paper examines the potential of technology to transform tax administration by helping to identify the tax base, facilitate compliance, and monitor compliance.

It also identifies possible limitations to the use of technology arising from inadequate infrastructure and connectivity, lack of adoption (or resistance) by taxpayers and tax collectors, lack of institutional mainstreaming, and an unsupportive regulatory environment.

Authors

Oyebola Okunogbe

Oyebola Okunogbe is an Economist in the Human Development team of the World Bank Development Research Group. Her research interests are in governance and political economy, including policies on public finance, nation building, education, employment and gender.

Fabrizio Santoro

Fabrizio is a Research Fellow at the Institute of Development Studies, and the Research Lead for the second component of the ICTD's DIGITAX Research Programme. His main research interests relate to governance, public finance, and taxation, with a strong focus on impact evaluation methodologies and statistical analysis. He holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Sussex.
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