Tax revenue performance and vulnerability in developing countries

This paper addresses vulnerability of revenue to external shocks using export composition to capture economic structure and differentiating countries according to income levels, resource endowments and political regimes. This gives a richer characterization than previous studies. Lower income countries are vulnerable to shocks, especially in terms of trade (associated with the greatest revenue loss): democratic regimes seem to be less vulnerable to revenue losses due to shocks than non-democracies whereas revenue in resource rich is more vulnerable to shocks (except natural disasters) than non-resource rich countries. We find a negative relationship between manufacturing exports and revenue in lower income countries

Trade, investment and tax cooperation: tax competition.

The world is facing a new round of international tax competition that may result in a ruinous race to the bottom, undermining the fiscal capacity of states to respond to global challenges and to implement the Agenda 2030. G20 leaders must take action to strengthen multilateral and cooperative approaches to taxation, curtail harmful tax competition and protect their own tax base as well as that of developing countries.Seventh Framework Programme (FP7)758671Grenzen van fiscale soevereinitei

Semi-Autonomous Revenue Authorities in Sub-Saharan Africa: Silver Bullet or White Elephant

A major component of tax administration reform in sub-Saharan Africa for the last 30 years has been the creation of semi-autonomous revenue authorities (SARAs). The effects of their creation on revenue performance have been much debated, although there are only a few quantitative studies. The core argument of this paper is that existing research suggesting diverse and contradictory outcomes has not taken account of trends in revenue performance in the years before the establishment of SARAs. Allowing for this revenue history our analysis based on 46 countries over the period 1980-2015 provides no robust evidence that SARAs induce an increase in revenue performance. This does not imply that SARAs may not provide benefits for tax collection, but they do not demonstrably increase (or decrease) revenue collected

The Politics of Taxation: Introduction to the Special Section

Domestic revenue mobilisation has received growing attention in recent years. International players such as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the World Bank and the G20 are calling for more determined action to combat tax evasion and avoidance. Developing countries are urged to increase their own tax collection. However, implementing and sustaining tax reforms has proven to be a challenging task for many governments. This special section provides new evidence on the political factors determining taxation in developing countries. The articles gathered here address two distinct yet related questions: first, which factors shape long-term taxation patterns and why are these patterns so difficult to change even when they prove to be dysfunctional in many ways? Second, which factors determine the fate of specific tax reforms? Evidence from case studies covering six countries is complemented by a statistical analysis of factors influencing revenue vulnerability in the face of external shocks

Political will and strategic use of YouTube to advancing government transparency: An analysis of Jakarta government-generated YouTube videos

Government transparency is critical to cut government bureaucracy and corruption, which diminish political accountability and legitimacy, erode trust in government, and hinder citizen engagement and government performance. Previously, Jakarta\u27s local governments lacked government transparency, holding high-level meetings under a close-door policy, sustaining a critical and fundamental flaw in policy-making and fueling government inefficiency and corruption. Social media radically increased the speed, reach and transparency of information. Yet, social media-enabled government transparency has not been sufficiently investigated. This research presents strategic use of YouTube by Jakarta\u27s new local government to open doors to high-level political meetings and other reform-oriented government activities for greater local government transparency. We conducted an analysis of 250 government-generated videos on YouTube viewed and liked by Jakarta\u27s 7.8-million net-savvy citizens. We conclude transformational leadership\u27s political will and strategic use of YouTube are the keys to advancing local government transparency and facilitating citizen engagement with government\u27s reform initiatives