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This paper studies tax withholding on business sales, a widely used compliance mechanism which is largely ignored by public finance theory. The study introduces a withholding scheme, whereby the payer in a transaction collects tax from the payee, in a standard evasion model. If the taxpayer can fully reclaim the tax withheld, withholding is irrelevant to her evasion decision. If reclaim is costly, however, withholding establishes a compliance default. To show this empirically, the analysis exploits a ten-year panel of registration, income tax and sales tax records from 400,000 firms in Costa Rica, and over 20 million third-party information and withholding reports. The paper first documents the anatomy of compliance, providing novel measures of compliance gaps on the extensive, intensive and payment margins. It then shows that interventions leveraging the existing third-party information reduce these compliance gaps only marginally. Coverage by a withholding scheme, in contrast, is correlated with higher reported taxable income both across firms and within firms across time. Quasi-experimental estimations show that a doubling of the withholding rate leads to a 40 percent increase in tax payment among treated firms and a 10 percent increase in aggregate revenue. The mechanisms are incomplete reclaim of the tax withheld and reduced misreporting.

This study attempts to estimate tax compliance costs and assess views of taxpayers on aspects of the tax system in Ethiopia. The study uses evidence mainly from a survey of both formal and informal businesses in Addis Ababa and four major cities (Adama, Hawassa, Mekele, and Bahir Dar) in the four largest regional states. The survey covered 1003 formal businesses and 499 informal businesses. Survey questionnaires were informed by the results of four focus group discussions conducted in Addis Ababa and Adama. The findings of the study are expected to offer tax policy makers and tax administrators an opportunity to pinpoint specific problems to help reduce the cost of complying with tax policies and procedures, thus improving the revenue performance and also the efficiency and business-friendliness of the tax system. The report is organized in four sections. The first part presents an overview of the Ethiopian tax system and recent reform initiatives; second section discusses the research objectives and the methods employed. Section three presents results of the survey while section four presents conclusions and recommendations.

An efficient and transparent regulatory framework governing international trade is a necessary condition for countries to realize the benefits of international trade. Over the last decade, Lao PDR has been deepening its economic ties with the global economy through the formal accession to the WTO in 2013. At the regional level, the country is committed to be full member of the ASEAN Economic Community. These agreements entailed profound changes to Lao PDR’s regulatory framework governing international trade. This report provides an overview of the incidence on NTMs on import flows in Lao PDR before and after WTO accession and identifies lingering regulatory hurdles that may still hamper the ability of the country to reap the gains of a deeper integration. Employing detailed and comparable NTM information, this note characterizes the changes in the trade related regulatory framework in Lao PDR and compares the current scheme with that of other countries in Asia. The report also combines econometric estimations of Ad-Valorem Equivalents (AVEs) of NTMs with qualitative information collected through fieldwork to identify priority measure to streamline. This report is organized as follows. Section two discusses main conceptual issues and presents the data and metrics to examine the role of NTMs in import flows. Section three, describes the trade incidence of NTMs and compares it with similar countries and with the situation prior to WTO accession. Section four combines an econometric technique with qualitative information to discuss the stringency of NTMs. Section five presents some concluding remarks and provides some recommendation for reform.

Free movement and freedom of establishment existing within the European Union institutions are the main factors which make European Union open for business activities. However, it should be noted that all EU countries have their own tax systems and fiscal policy. This, in turn, differentiates fiscal burden of government imposed onto its taxpayers in each Member State. These differences frequently distort the conditions of establishment. As every entrepreneur is willing to minimize costs, especially when their source are compulsory taxes, mass tax migration between Member States might be expected. Tax avoidance and tax evasion, being a form of tax migration, imply numerous economic, social and legal problems. The aim of this paper is to identify these problems along with their causes and effects in terms of fiscal burden differentiation between Member States. Descriptive, qualitative and quantitative analyses have been applied in order to explain the abovementioned phenomena. Additionally, the analyses have been accompanied by case studies.

India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, today the three independent states, were once part of one of the colonies of Great Britain. This thesis briefly describes the former colonial taxation and then concentrates on the tax systems in these developing countries. Then the tax systems are compared. It is assessed how systems are doing in the current conditions of globalization and whether the features of its tax systems confirm typical features for developing countries.

旧来の非営利法人税制は所管官庁による設立許可と税制優遇が連動していたが、NPO法人及び新しい公益法人では法人格と税制優遇が切り離され、一定の基準をパスした団体にのみ税制優遇を与えるために、寄付やボランティアを介した「市民参加による公益性評価」が導入された。所管官庁の裁量を排し、市民によって公益性が評価されるこの仕組みは画期的である。ただし、客観的検証の積み重ねを欠いたまま制度が導入・改正されてきた経緯があり、このような公益性評価の基準が広く寄付を集める団体を支援したり、ボランティアによる市民参加を促進するという当初の政策的目標を十分に果たせていない状況も見受けられる。実態を検証しながら慎重に制度を見直すことにより、真に公益性をもつ団体が税制優遇を受けられるように、法人制度を越えた公益性評価の基準を再検討する必要がある。Government approved nonprofit corporations are automatically afforded preferential tax treatment in Japan. In contrast, recently institutionalized specified nonprofit corporations under the NPO law and the public interest corporation law are not afforded preferential tax treatment without acceptance of standards for public interest that are measured by citizen participation through donations or volunteers. This new system is remarkable for the Japanese tax system for nonprofit corporations since it is expected to exclude the discretion of the governing authority and to introduce citizens, valuation instead. However, the valuation of donations that is applied to nonprofit organizations under the NPO law has been amended seven times within ten years without sufficient verification, and the initial objective of the policy to promote citizen participation has been distorted. On the other hand, the valuation of volunteers is applied to the foundations and associations under the new public interest corporation law, but this valuation system has not been arranged yet. A unified accreditation system for the tax exempt status of nonprofit corporations should be established through cautious investigation of the effectiveness and influence of the system., 特集 市民社会におけるNPOと評価の役割

This paper discusses the methods of comparative taxation and pro vides an outline of an evolutionary approach to this new and promising field of study. The paper begins by discussing what com parative taxation can learn from comparative studies generally and what can it contribute to them. It then describes what a functional approach to comparative taxation looks like and discusses the two main methods that can be applied by comparative taxation: the theory of legal formants and the common core approach. These two func tional approaches are placed into an institutional setting in which alternative solutions to tax problems found in different countries'poli cies are considered in local tax design and in which they manifest themselves in domestic tax mechanisms implementing tax models, fre quently through legal transplants. The paper continues by discussing a de minimis agenda for future comparative tax work and distin guishes between static and dynamic comparative taxation: research in the former field may lead to important insights as to the formation of tax families. Yet, it is the research in the latter area that opens up a new set of important issues relating to tax transplants and to the cir culation of tax models, showing its potential for applied empirical research. The paper concludes that the analysis of the circulation of tax models allows us to identify a possible agenda for future compara tive tax research in which "five challenges for comparative taxation" must be faced.

While taxation is essential to ensure the proper functioning of the State, it can pose threats to economic performance and – to some extent – discourage individuals from supplying labor. This article examines whether different tax systems have an identical incidence on labor supply and tax revenues. For instance, does a progressive system discourage labor supply more than a proportional system ? Which tax system allows the State to play its redistributive role most effectively ? To address these questions, we have chosen three experimental tests. In the first, participants have have to make a real effort under a proportional tax system. In the second test, we apply a progressive system. In the third test, participants are subjected to several tax systems in succession. The latter test enables us to measure the incidence of system change on individual decisions. Our experimental results show unambiguously that a progressive system has a greater disincentive effect on labor supply than a proportional system. Another interesting result of our study is that individuals are influenced not only by their present tax system but also by their earlier tax experience., Si la fiscalité est indispensable pour assurer le bon fonctionnement de l’État, elle peut toutefois faire peser un certain nombre de menaces sur les performances de l’économie et, dans une certaine mesure, décourager l’offre de travail des individus. L’enjeu de cet article est de savoir si l’incidence fiscale sur l’offre de travail et sur les rentrées fiscales est identique selon le système d’imposition en vigueur. Ainsi, un système progressif décourage-t-il davantage l’offre de travail qu’un système proportionnel ? Quel système de taxation permet à l’État de remplir au mieux son rôle redistributif ? Afin de répondre à ces questions, l’approche mobilisée est l’économie expérimentale. Trois traitements ont été réalisés. Dans un premier traitement, les participants doivent réaliser un effort réel sous un système d'imposition proportionnel. Dans un second traitement, le système d’imposition en vigueur est un système progressif. Enfin dans un troisième traitement, les participants sont confrontés successivement à plusieurs systèmes d’imposition. Ce dernier traitement permet d’étudier l’incidence de changement de système sur les décisions individuelles. Nos résultats expérimentaux montrent, sans aucune ambiguïté, que les effets désincitatifs sur l’offre de travail sont plus importants sous un système progressif que sous un système proportionnel. Enfin, un autre résultat intéressant de notre étude est que les individus ne sont pas uniquement influencés par leur propre système fiscal mais également par leurs expériences fiscales précédentes., Montmarquette Claude, Masclet David. Approche expérimentale de l'incidence de la fiscalité sur l'offre de travail : une étude comparative des systèmes d'imposition. In: Économie & prévision, n°182, 2008-1. pp. 47-59.

This paper discusses competitiveness-related issues surrounding the design and administration of corporate and value added/sales taxes in four South Asian countries -- Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. The paper is based largely on analysis of tax legislation; in addition, data from the World Banks enterprise surveys, the Doing Business report, as well as industry studies are used for evidence on tax compliance costs for business. The review of tax regulations in the region shows several commonalities: (1) widespread use of tax incentives to support selected industries, types of firms, and industrial locations; (2) many exemptions from value-added taxes as well as the practice of levying multiple indirect taxes on the same base; and (3) high costs of tax compliance for businesses. The paper discusses the consequences of tax policies for the competitiveness of South Asian producers, describes the main problems in tax administration, and outlines key directions for reforms.

Excise taxes on alcohol and tobacco have long been a dependable and significant revenue source in many countries. More recently, considerable attention has been paid to the way in which such taxes may also be used to attain public health objectives by reducing the consumption of products with adverse health and social impacts. Some have gone further and argued that explicitly earmarking excise taxes on alcohol and tobacco to finance public health expenditures—marrying sin and virtue as it were—will make increasing such taxes more politically acceptable and provide the funding needed to increase such expenditures, especially for the poor. The basic idea—tax “bads” and do “good” with the proceeds—is simple and appealing. But designing and implementing good “sin” taxes is a surprisingly complex task. Earmarking revenues from such taxes for health expenditures may also sound good and be a useful selling point for new taxes. However, such earmarking raises difficult issues with respect to budgetary rigidity and political accountability. This note explores these and other issues that lurk beneath the surface of the attractive concept of using increased sin excises on alcohol and tobacco to finance “virtuous” social spending on public health.

Experience shows that there is often ample room for more effective and efficient use of investment tax incentives in low-income countries. Tax incentives generally rank low in investment climate surveys in low-income countries, and there are many examples in which they are reported to be redundant, that is, investment will have been undertaken even without them. And their fiscal cost can be high, reducing opportunities for much-needed public spending on infrastructure, public services or social support, or requiring higher taxes on other activities. This paper responds to a request of the G20 Development Working Group for an exploration of options for low-income countries’ effective and efficient use of tax incentives for investment. To that end, it develops principles for the design and governance of tax incentives and provides guidance on good practices in these areas. Since much of the pressure to offer incentives stems from an awareness of those offered by other countries, the paper also discusses options for international coordination to address the risk of mutually damaging spillovers from such tax competition. Finally, a separate background document develops practical tools and models that can help assess the costs and benefits of tax incentives, which is essential for informed decision making. The aim is thus to assist low-income countries (LICs) in reviewing and reforming their tax incentives, so as to better align them with their developmental objectives. This paper relates to other global initiatives aimed at strengthening domestic revenue mobilization in LICs.

This background paper describes five different tools that can be used for the assessment of tax incentives by governments in low income countries’ (LICs). The first tool (an application of cost-benefit analysis) provides an overarching framework for assessment. Evaluations of the various costs and benefits of tax incentives are vital for informed decision making, but are rarely undertaken, partly because it can be a difficult exercise that is demanding in terms of data needs. The next three tools (tax expenditure assessment, corporate micro simulation models, and effective tax rate models) can be used as part of a comprehensive cost-benefit analysis, to shed light on particular aspects. Effective tax rate models shed light on the implications of tax parameters - including targeted tax incentives - on investment returns and help understand the implications of reform for expected investment outcomes. The document presents two tools for assessing the transparency and governance of tax incentives in LICs. These discuss principles in transparency and governance of tax incentives, and allow for benchmarking existing LIC practices against better alternatives.

The focus of the paper is on how public spending volume, composition (current versus capital), and quality are linked to the per capita growth rates of the West Africa economic and monetary union (WAEMU) countries, which have been fluctuating and remain relatively low compared to other parts of the world. The empirical analysis covers the period 2000-2013. The results indicate that total public spending has a significant impact on growth. While the impact of the capital component is positive and statistically significant, the effect of the current component is consistently negative, but not significant. When the capital component is further split into two: public fixed capital investment and public other capital expenditures, defined as total public capital expenditure minus public fixed capital investment, the results show that not only physical capital formation but also human capital spending is important for growth in the WAEMU group. While the volatility measure for public investment has a clear negative and statistically significant impact on growth, the quality of public fixed investment has a positive impact. The findings also indicate that fiscal deficits have not been an important constraint to the effectiveness of government spending on growth, reflecting the fiscal discipline achieved in the union. On the other hand, the debt-to-gross domestic product (GDP) ratio clearly shows a significant negative impact on growth, indicating the risk associated with debt distress. Total fiscal revenue has a significant and positive effect on growth, most likely indicating relatively low levels of fiscal revenues to GDP ratios, partially boosted by natural resources, coupled with grants. In each regression specification, it is observed that the contributions of both trade openness and private investment on growth are positive and significant. The results also indicate that the quality of institutions, measured by an index of bureaucracy quality, is critical to enhancing the positive effect of public spending on growth. The results with country effects indicate that, at the individual country level, capital public expenditures are clearly much more relevant in explaining growth changes than current expenditures. The findings are robust to different regression methodologies, as well as the inclusion of short- and medium-term data.

The paper analyzes the design of simplified small business tax regimes in Eastern Europe and Central Asia and the impact of such regimes on small business tax compliance. Although many approaches for tax simplification exist, a general trend in the region is to offer small businesses the option to be taxed based on their turnover instead of net income. The study finds that many of the regimes in place are overly simplistic and neither take into account fairness considerations nor do they facilitate business growth and migration into the standard tax regime. Although revenue generation is not a main objective of such regimes, low revenue performance and the risk of system abuse by larger businesses should be issues of concern. More attention should therefore be devoted to improving the design of simplified regimes and monitoring their application. This will require in particular a more profound analysis of the economic situation and the tax compliance challenges in the small business segment and increased efforts to improve the quality of bookkeeping.

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.

The extractive industries (EI) sector occupies an outsize space in the economies of many developing countries. Economists, public finance professionals, and policy makers working in such countries are frequently confronted with issues that require an in-depth understanding of the sector. The objective of this volume is to provide a concise overview of EI-related topics these professionals are likely to encounter. The volume provides an overview of issues central to EI economics; discusses key components of the sector’s governance, policy, and institutional frameworks; and identifies the public sector’s EI-related financing obligations. Its discussion of EI economics covers the valuation of subsoil assets, the economic interpretation of ore, and the structure of energy and mineral markets. The volume maps the responsibilities of relevant government entities and outlines the characteristics of the EI sector’s legal and regulatory frameworks. Specific key functions of the sector are briefly discussed, as are the financial structures that underpin environmental and social safeguards; investment of public revenues generated from oil, gas, or minerals; as well as extractive-based economic diversification. The authors hope that decision makers in ministries of finance, international organizations, and other relevant entities will find the study useful to their understanding and analysis of the EI sector.

Azerbaijan’s performance on the twin goals has been commendable. The middle class has doubled in size and extreme poverty has almost been eliminated in the space of a decade. At the same time, regional differences persist, with significantly higher poverty rates in lagging regions, and Baku dominating overwhelmingly in terms of share of GDP. Disparities in welfare also persist between rural and urban areas as well as across social groups. As the share of the poor fell in the bottom 40 percent of the welfare distribution, the share of the vulnerable has increased. All of this suggests taking a closer look at the challenges facing Azerbaijan as it seeks to sustain and ‘even out’ progress on the twin goals.

El país posee problemas estructurales en el sistema fiscal que deben resolverse en el corto plazo. Los cambios realizados en las últimas dos décadas no han logrado aumentar los ingresos de forma significativa, han sido coyunturales y aplicados por medio de reformas parciales que no han logrado solventar los elementos de fondo. Las debilidades detectadas en el sistema tributario costarricense son: un esquema fiscal regresivo, poco poder redistributivo, una limitada recaudación, una gran variedad en las alícuotas aplicadas a las diferentes rentas, unos esquemas de exoneraciones permanentes y un impuesto de ventas que aplica gran cantidad excepciones. Un sistema tributario debe tener suficiencia recaudatoria, una mayor participación de impuestos directos progresivos y mejorar su capacidad redistributiva. Para lograr estos tres principios, el Gobierno debe migrar hacia un esquema de renta global unificada, aplicado en etapas y sustituir el actual impuesto de ventas por un impuesto al valor agregado. Las exoneraciones que se planteen deben ser mínimas y con una clara justificación técnica. Adicionalmente, deben generarse esfuerzos para mejorar la recaudación del impuesto territorial, ampliar la base de los productos y servicios a los que se les aplica el impuesto selectivo, facilitar la recaudación de impuestos y mejorar la cultura tributaria del país. Costa Rica has structural problems in its tax system that must be resolved promptly. Changes made in the past two decades have been unsuccessful to increase revenues; these have been circumstantial and implemented as partial reforms that have failed to solve core issues. The weaknesses detected in the Costa Rican tax system are: a regressive tax scheme, limited distributive potential and tax collection, a scheme with permanent exemptions, a sales tax that applies big exemptions that do not benefit low income segments and a great variety of fixed taxes applied to different incomes. A tax system should have revenue adequacy and greater participation of progressive direct taxes as well as an improved distributive potential. To achieve these three principles, the government should move toward a unified global income scheme implemented in phases, and replace the current sales tax for a value added tax. New exemptions should be minimal as well as clearly and technically justified. Additionally, efforts must be made to improve the collection of property taxes, expand the base of products and services subjected to especial excise taxes, facilitate tax collection and develop a tax culture in the country. Universidad Nacional, Costa Rica Escuela de Relaciones Internacionales

What are the socioeconomic impacts of resource abundance? Are these effects different at the national and local levels? How could resource booms benefit (or harm) local communities? This paper reviews a vast literature examining these questions, with an emphasis on empirical works. First, the evidence and theoretical arguments behind the so-called resource curse, and other impacts at the country level, are reviewed. This cross-country literature highlights the importance of institutions. Then, a simple analytical framework is developed to understand how resource booms could impact local communities, and the available empirical evidence is examined. This emerging literature exploits within-country variation and is opening new ways to think about the relation between natural resources and economic development. The main message is that others factors, such as market mechanisms and local spillovers, are also relevant for understanding the impact of resource abundance. Finally, the paper discusses issues related to fiscal decentralization and provides ideas for future research.

The purpose of this paper is to contribute to theunderstanding and discussion of how the costs andbenefits of natural resource development are sharedacross society. This paper presents how IFC, as both aninvestor and a development organization, determineswhether benefits and costs are shared reasonably, and how this assessment influences IFC’s decision to invest ina particular natural resource project. the goal of the paper is to promotea broad, constructive dialogue across stakeholders—governments, investors, civil society, and others—around benefit sharing. The paper draws on IFC’s experience and presents anoverarching framework for multi-stakeholder benefitsharing, providing analysis and guidance for a range ofcomplex topics. The paper is intended to provide entrypoints for stakeholders of varying levels of familiarity with the issues to benefit-sharing assessment. The paper is not a definitive manual for all the issues coveredfor which more detailed, high-quality and excellentreferences and literature exists. This paper is organized along these broad areas of impact that IFC considers in the benefit sharing assessment:fiscal, economic, environmental, and social. The approaches IFC uses to evaluate benefit sharing arepresented in each area, along with some lessons learned. This is complemented by a discussion of key issues thatare topical in the field. Each chapter opens with a list of questions that can be used as a guide to assess the potential benefits and costs of an investment. As a result, there is a spectrum of what can be considered reasonable overall. However, there may be particular features of a benefit-sharing arrangement that stand out and can signal a risk to its legitimacy. Our aspiration is that this paper will complement as well as stimulate work by others that can enhance the collective knowledge and encourage dialogue.

This Selected Issues paper on the Republic of Madagascar reports on the several key themes associated with longer-term development issues in Madagascar. As one of the poorest countries in sub-Saharan Africa, Madagascar suffers from low levels of social indicators across all fronts including education, health, water and sanitation, and infrastructure. To make progress toward the Millennium Development Goals, the country will need to scale up substantially both public and private investment while taking actions to increase absorptive and institutional capacity and implementing supportive policies in each of the priority sectors.

The tax harmonization is a complex issue in the process of European integration. The tax harmonization is a process of convergence of the tax system based on mutual set of rules and, in general, it means existence of identical or similar tax rates for the tax payers in European Union, i.e. Euro zone. In case there are identical tax rates, then we are talking about a, so called, total explicit tax harmonization, whereas, if there are similar tax rates, we are talking about partial explicit tax harmonization, which refers to determination of the highest and the lowest tax rates. Thus, countries can determine the tax rates of certain taxes. The total harmonization, besides tax rates harmonization, means structural harmonization or harmonization of the tax structure. The harmonization of direct taxes mainly relies on the following main objectives: avoiding tax evasion and elimination of double taxation. The harmonization of regulations and directives in the field of indirect taxes is necessary in terms of establishing a single market, or removal of barriers to the free movement of goods, people, services and capital.

This is the tenth year that the paying taxes indicator has been part of the World Bank Doing Business project. The journey over the period of the study has been an eventful and interesting one and the economic backdrop continues to present a challenging environment for governments as they consider their future fiscal policies. Globalization, the march of technological change, changing demographic patterns and the persistent challenges that continue around climate change and the environment all come together to generate a turbulent mix of issues which have a significant impact on fiscal policy and the associated tax systems. Against this backdrop, this year the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has put forward proposals for changing the international tax rules to modernize them for today s globalized business and to address concerns over base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS). It is apparent that these proposals are already changing the way some tax authorities apply existing rules, leading to new and increased uncertainty for business, at least in the short term. Alongside all of this however there are two simple, mutually supportive objectives for governments; to ensure that there are sufficient public revenues for the future, to lay a foundation for sustained improvements in productivity, while at the same time incentivising investment and economic growth. This year the authors have also focused more on the compliance aspects of the information that authors collect through the study. Stable tax systems and strong tax administrations are important for businesses, helping them to operate in an environment where the tax treatment of transactions is predictable, and where governments operate transparently. The paying taxes study provides an unrivalled global database which supports an ongoing research program.