Download or read book How to Design Tax Policy in Fragile States written by Mario Mansour and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2019-09-26 with total page 29 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The purpose of this note is to provide a framework for improving tax policy design in fragile and conflict-affected states, which face political and institutional constraints. This note begins with an overview of experiences in revenue mobilization in fragile states, including relative to other country groups—in particular, nonfragile states and formerly fragile states; that is, countries that exited fragility during the period under study. A discussion follows of how the principles of tax policy design should be applied in fragile states, particularly the relative importance of the revenue objective vis-à-vis other objectives, such as equity and efficiency. The two sections that follow provide guidance on tax policy design in the emergency and consolidation phases, respectively, and discuss how governments can use tax policy to transition from one phase to another, eventually overcoming fragility. The note concludes with key lessons and a set of guiding principles for tax reform in fragile states.

Download or read book Macroeconomic Policy in Fragile States written by Ralph Chami and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2021-01-26 with total page 496 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Setting macroeconomic policy is especially difficult in fragile states. Political legitimacy concerns are heightened, raising issues such as who the policymakers are, what incentives they face, and how the process of policymaking is likely to work under limited legitimacy and high uncertainty both about the macroeconomic environment as well as policy effectiveness. In addition, fragility expands the range of policy objectives in ways that may constrain the attainment of standard macroeconomic objectives. Specifically, in the context of fragility policymakers also need to focus on measures to mitigate fragility itself - i.e., they need to address issues such as regional and ethnic economic disparities, youth unemployment, and food price inflation. Socio-political developments around the world have thus pushed policymakers to broaden their toolkit to improve the effectiveness of macroeconomic management in the face of these constraints. The chapters in Macroeconomic Policy in Fragile States address these issues, both by giving an analytical context from which policymakers can build to answer the questions they face in fragile situations as well as by providing lessons drawn from empirical analyses and case studies. The first section of the volume discusses the interactions between political economy considerations and macroeconomic policymaking. The second section covers the private sector environment in fragile states. The third section focuses on macroeconomic policy, especially fiscal policy, monetary policy, exchange rate policy, external flows, and aid effectiveness. The last section explains the role of the IMF in fragile states and concludes by presenting case studies from the Middle East and from Sub-Saharan Africa. The contributors to the volume are economists and political scientists from academia as well as policymakers from international organizations and from countries affected by fragility.

Download or read book Current Challenges in Revenue Mobilization Improving Tax Compliance written by International Monetary Fund and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2015-01-29 with total page 81 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This paper addresses core challenges that all tax administrations face in dealing with noncompliance—which are now receiving renewed attention. Long a priority in developing countries, assuring strong compliance has acquired greater priority in countries facing intensified revenue needs, and is critical for fairness and statebuilding. Series: Policy Papers

Download or read book Taxing Africa written by Mick Moore and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2018-07-15 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Taxation has been seen as the domain of charisma-free accountants, lawyers and number crunchers – an unlikely place to encounter big societal questions about democracy, equity or good governance. Yet it is exactly these issues that pervade conversations about taxation among policymakers, tax collectors, civil society activists, journalists and foreign aid donors in Africa today. Tax has become viewed as central to African development. Written by leading international experts, Taxing Africa offers a cutting-edge analysis on all aspects of the continent's tax regime, displaying the crucial role such arrangements have on attempts to create social justice and push economic advancement. From tax evasion by multinational corporations and African elites to how ordinary people navigate complex webs of 'informal' local taxation, the book examines the potential for reform, and how space might be created for enabling locally-led strategies.

Download or read book Avoid a Fall Or Fly Again Turning Points of State Fragility written by Olusegun Ayodele Akanbi and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2021-05-06 with total page 48 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: High persistence of state fragility (a fragility trap) suggests the presence of substantial benefits from avoiding a fall into fragility and considerable hurdles to successful exit from fragility. This paper empirically examines the factors that affect the turning points of entering and exiting from state fragility by employing three different approaches: an event study, the synthetic control method, and a logit model. We find that avoiding economic contraction is critical to prevent a country on the brink of fragility from falling into fragility (e.g., among near fragile countries, the probability of entering fragility would rise by 40 percentage points should real GDP per capita growth decline from +2.5 percent to -2.5 percent). Also, strengthening government effectiveness together with increasing political inclusion and maintaining robust economic activity should help make exit from fragility more successful and sustainable. In the current environment (the COVID-19 crisis and its aftermath), the findings suggest the importance of providing well-directed fiscal stimulus with sufficient financing, (subject to appropriate governance safeguards and well-designed policies), and protecting critical socio-economic spending to keep vulnerable countries away from being caught in a fragility trap.

Download or read book Fragile by Design written by Charles W. Calomiris and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2015-08-04 with total page 584 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Why stable banking systems are so rare Why are banking systems unstable in so many countries—but not in others? The United States has had twelve systemic banking crises since 1840, while Canada has had none. The banking systems of Mexico and Brazil have not only been crisis prone but have provided miniscule amounts of credit to business enterprises and households. Analyzing the political and banking history of the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Brazil through several centuries, Fragile by Design demonstrates that chronic banking crises and scarce credit are not accidents. Calomiris and Haber combine political history and economics to examine how coalitions of politicians, bankers, and other interest groups form, why they endure, and how they generate policies that determine who gets to be a banker, who has access to credit, and who pays for bank bailouts and rescues. Fragile by Design is a revealing exploration of the ways that politics inevitably intrudes into bank regulation.

Download or read book Case Studies in Tax Revenue Mobilization in Low Income Countries written by Mr.Bernardin Akitoby and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2019-05-14 with total page 32 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How can Low-Income Countries (LICs) enhance tax revenue collection to finance their vast development needs? We address this question by analyzing seven tax reform experiences in LICs (Burkina Faso, The Gambia, Maldives, Mauritania, Rwanda, Senegal, and Uganda). Three lessons stand out, although reforms must be tailored to individual circumstances: (i) Tax reforms require first and foremost political commitment and buy-in from key stakeholders; (ii) Countries that pursue both revenue administration and tax policy reforms tend to see much larger and persistent gains; and (iii) A successful strategy often starts with fiscal reform measures with immediate effect to build momentum. These can include: simplifying the tax system; curbing exemptions; reforming indirect taxes on goods and services (e.g., excises); and better managing compliance risks through strengthening taxpayer segmentation (often beginning with strengthening the Large Taxpayers Office). A comprehensive reform strategy (e.g., a medium-term revenue strategy) can help to properly sequence reform measures and facilitate their implementation.

Download or read book Tax Administration in Developing Countries written by Mr.Charles Y. Mansfield and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 1987-06-01 with total page 26 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This paper examines the role of tax administration in developing countries from an economic perspective. The traditional separation of tax policy and tax administration in the literature is shown to break down in developing countries, where tax administrators decide in what manner complicated tax legislation should actually be applied. After surveying economic literature dealing with tax administration, the paper offers guidelines on how tax administrators can help implement more efficient and equitable tax systems.

Download or read book Building Fiscal Capacity in Fragile States written by International Monetary Fund. Fiscal Affairs Dept. and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2017-06-14 with total page 64 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The paper draws on recent country experience to describe the approach to designing and implementing fiscal reforms in fragile states (FS) taken in the IMF’s technical assistance (TA). In doing so, it highlights how the TA that the IMF provides to FS differs from that of non-FS, describes the trends in and modalities of TA delivery, and draws on recent experiences to derive lessons for future work.

Download or read book How to Establish a Tax Policy Unit written by Martin Grote and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2019-01-09 with total page 40 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How to Establish a Tax Policy Unit

Download or read book On the Capacity to Absorb Public Investment How Much is Too Much written by Daniel Gurara and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2020-02-28 with total page 37 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: While expanding public investment can help filling infrastructure bottlenecks, scaling up too much and too fast often leads to inefficient outcomes. This paper rationalizes this outcome looking at the association between cost inflation and public investment in a large sample of road construction projects in developing countries. Consistent with the presence of absorptive capacity constraints, our results show a non-linear U-shaped relationship between public investment and project costs. Unit costs increase once public investment is close to 10% of GDP. This threshold is lower (about 7% of GDP) in countries with low investment efficiency and, in general, the effect of investment scaling up on costs is especially strong during investment booms.

Download or read book Fair Taxation in the Middle East and North Africa written by Mario Mansour and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2015-09-02 with total page 36 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Fairness – and what governments can do about it – is at the forefront of economic and social debate all over the world. In MENA, this has been at the core of recent political transitions but has not been adequately addressed. This SDN explores how tax systems – a critical interface between the state and citizens – can play a role in meeting demands for greater economic fairness in MENA countries. The SDN finds that for countries with well-established non-hydrocarbon tax systems (mostly oil importers) reforms should focus on simplifying tax structures and introducing more progressivity of personal income taxes, broadening tax bases, and better designing and enforcing property taxes. Tax administration should be more efficient and user-friendly while simplifying tax regimes will reduce the scope for arbitrary implementation. MENA countries with less established non-hydrocarbon revenue systems can begin with a “starter pack” that includes introduction of low-rate value-added and corporate income taxes, excises, and property taxes while building up administrative capacity and taxation expertise together with plans for introducing a personal income tax. Across the region, effective communication, transparency, and constructive dialogue between the State and citizens are critical to the success of reforms.

Download or read book Revenue Mobilization in Developing Countries written by International Monetary Fund. Fiscal Affairs Dept. and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2011-08-03 with total page 86 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Fund has long played a lead role in supporting developing countries’ efforts to improve their revenue mobilization. This paper draws on that experience to review issues and good practice, and to assess prospects in this key area.

Download or read book Federal Tax Policy written by Joseph A. Pechman and published by Brookings Institution Press. This book was released on 1977 with total page 424 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Of current theories of the incidence of the major state and local taxes, assessment of the capacity of state and local governments to carry their debt burdens, and discussion of the property tax system and the state and local retirement system. Two chapters are devoted to the intergovernmental transfers.

Download or read book Corruption Taxes and Compliance written by Ms.Anja Baum and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2017-11-17 with total page 31 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This paper revisits the effects of corruption on the state’s capacity to raise revenue, building on the existing empirical literature using new and more disaggregated data. We use a comprehensive dataset for 147 countries spanning 1995-2014, compiled by the IMF. It finds that—consistent with the existing literature—corruption is negatively associated with overall tax revenue, and most of its components. This relationship is predominantly influenced by the way corruption interacts with tax compliance. The establishment of large taxpayer offices improves tax compliance by dampening the perception of corruption, thereby boosting revenue.

Download or read book Personal Income Taxes in the Middle East and North Africa Prospects and Possibilities written by Mario Mansour and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2023-02-17 with total page 39 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Personal income taxes (PITs) play little or no role in the Middle East and North Africa, often yielding less than 2 percent of GDP in revenue—with the exception of few North African countries. This paper examines how PITs have evolved in recent decades, and what they might look like in the next 20 years. Top marginal tax rates on labor and business income of individuals have declined substantially, a trend that mirrors reductions in advanced and developing economies. Taxation of passive capital income has changed very little, and the revenue intake from this source remains low throughout the region (less than 1 percent of GDP on average and concentrated in oil-importing non-fragile states). Social security contributions (SSC) have increased in importance in nearly all MENA countries, and some countries have introduced additional payroll taxes. The combination of reduced marginal tax rates, light taxation of income from capital and business activities, and increase of SSC, have resulted in income tax systems that create disincentives to work and incentives for informality, and contribute little to government revenue and income redistribution. Given differences in economic and political structures, demographics, and starting points, the path to PIT/SSC reforms will vary across the region. Countries with relatively mature PIT/SSC systems, where revenue performance has improved in the past two decades, will increasingly need to balance the revenue and equity objectives against effciency objectives (in particular labor market incentives and infromality). Countries with no PITs will have to weigh whether a consumption tax/SSC system that mimic a flat tax on labor income is sufficient to diversify revenue away from oil and whether to adopt PITs to address rising income and wealth inequality. Finally, fragile states, who face more political volatility and weaker fiscal institutions, will have to focus on simplicity of tax design and collection to be able to raise revenue from PITs.

Download or read book Asian Development Outlook 2022 written by Asian Development Bank and published by Asian Development Bank. This book was released on 2022-04-01 with total page 886 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Developing Asia faces greater uncertainty from the Russian invasion of Ukraine even as the region continues to contend with COVID-19 outbreaks. The war has sent shockwaves across financial and commodity markets. The highly transmissible Omicron variant has fueled a sharp rise in cases in the region, though its less severe health impact, coupled with increased immunity, has allowed economies to remain relatively open. As such, growth in the region is forecast to remain strong, supported by recovering domestic demand. The Russian invasion of Ukraine, aggressive monetary policy tightening in the US, and renewed COVID-19 outbreaks pose near-term risks to the outlook, alongside medium-term risks such as rising inequality due to school closures. Fiscal resources are needed to aid recovery and support sustainable development. But deficits and debt expanded substantially during the pandemic. Mobilizing taxes and optimizing tax incentives needs to be combined with improved spending efficiency to help developing Asia achieve its development objectives.