Research Theme
Tax Administration and Compliance
Many of the challenges low-income countries face in mobilising domestic resources are related to tax administration as much as tax policy. Our research on this theme encompasses all aspects of tax administration, from technology adoption, to data management and strategies for collecting revenue from different types of taxpayers. Tax compliance is a key focus, as low-income countries struggle with widespread evasion, corruption, and limited administrative capacity. Our research on compliance includes survey-based studies of taxpayers’ perceptions and attitudes, case studies, and large-scale field experiments.
Key Resources
Tax Administration and Compliance Library
Uganda’s tax system is a drain on small businesses: how to set them free
Taxes, trust, and transparency: Lessons for Ghana’s fiscal future
Ghanaian President John Mahama’s government presented its much-awaited 2025 budget last month. In it, Finance Minister Cassiel Ato Forson outlines…
From Identification to Stronger Tax Administration: Can Digital IDs Deliver?
In many low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), strengthening state capacity and expanding the tax base are fundamental to improving public…
Ghana’s e-levy: 3 lessons from the abolished mobile money tax
Four priority areas for next year’s Financing for Development Conference
The digital transformation of tax administrations: What’s in it for low-income countries?
As governments worldwide, particularly in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), push towards digital transformation, the platformisation of public services offers…
Collaborative Research Improves Tax Compliance in Rwanda
The most reliable way for revenue authorities to find out how to improve tax compliance is to conduct large scale…
Virtual
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Timezone: Europe/London
Watch the event recording here. On February 8th, the ICTD’s Research Director Dr Giulia Mascagni will be speaking as a panellist at an event focusing on taxpayer education. Read her paper on the role of taxpayer education in Africa, on
Virtual
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Timezone: Europe/London
The ICTD’s Research Director Giulia Mascagni will be beginning this spring’s Tax for Development webinar series. This upcoming webinar, The Tax Side of the Pandemic: Compliance Shifts and Funding for Recovery in Rwanda, is the first of a series of
Virtual
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Timezone: America/New_York
What impact has the Covid-19 pandemic had on taxpayer perceptions and tax compliance in low-income countries? In this seminar hosted by the World Bank, the ICTD’s Research Director Dr. Giulia Mascagni will present results from new research in Rwanda. Recently
Virtual
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Timezone: Europe/London
A central aspect of institutional development in developing economies is building tax systems capable of raising revenues from broad tax bases; i.e., acquiring fiscal capacity. Improved fiscal capacity allows countries to generate much-needed resources for the provision of public goods
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