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Tax Challenges Facing Developing Countries

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Author Info
Richard Bird () (University of Toronto)

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Abstract

Taxes matter. We all know we need them to pay for public services. But most of us complain about them -- exercise our "voice" -- and often try to dodge them -- to "exit" -- when we can. Those who design and implement tax systems, like those who try to escape them, for the most part consider themselves to be eminently ‘practical’ people responding to the world around them as they see it. As John Maynard Keynes (1936, 384-85) once said, however, “practical men, who believe themselves to be quite free from any intellectual influences, are usually the slaves of some defunct economist…..soon or late, it is ideas, not vested interests, which are dangerous for good or evil.” While true to some extent, at least when it comes to taxes this dictum both unduly flatters economists and puts too little weight on interests and other factors. Tax policy everywhere is shaped not only by ideas and vested interests but also by changing economic conditions, administrative constraints and technological possibilities, and, especially, the political institutions within which these factors are at play.

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Paper provided by International Studies Program, Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Georgia State University in its series International Studies Program Working Paper Series, at AYSPS, GSU with number paper0802.

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Length: 38 pages
Date of creation: 01 Mar 2008
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Handle: RePEc:ays:ispwps:paper0802

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Related research
Keywords: value-added tax; tax system; exit; voices;

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This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports: References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Ke-young Chu & Hamid Reza Davoodi & Sanjeev Gupta, 2000. "Income Distribution and Tax and Government Social Spending Policies in Developing Countries," IMF Working Papers 00/62, International Monetary Fund.
  2. Eduardo Lora & Mauricio Cardenas, 2006. "La reforma de las instituciones fiscales en América Latina," RES Working Papers 4458, Inter-American Development Bank, Research Department. [Downloadable!]
  3. Jorge Martinez-Vazquez, 2001. "Mexico: An Evaluation of the Main Features of the Tax System," International Studies Program Working Paper Series, at AYSPS, GSU paper0112, International Studies Program, Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Georgia State University. [Downloadable!]
  4. Morisset, Jacques & Izquierdo, Alejandro, 1993. "Effects of tax reform on Argentina's revenues," Policy Research Working Paper Series 1192, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
  5. Peter H. Lindert, 2003. "Voice and Growth: Was Churchill Right?," NBER Working Papers 9749, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  6. Schneider, Friedrich & Klinglmair, Robert, 2004. "Shadow Economies around the World: What Do We Know?," IZA Discussion Papers 1043, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
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  7. Bird, Richard M & Miller, Barbara Diane, 1989. "The Incidence of Indirect Taxes on Low-Income Households in Jamaica," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 37(2), pages 393-409, January.
  8. Richard M. Bird, 2005. "Evaluating Public Expenditures: Does It Matter How They are Financed?," International Tax Program Papers 0506, International Tax Program, Institute for International Business, Joseph L. Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto. [Downloadable!]
  9. Friedrich Schneider, 2004. "Shadow Economies around the World: What do we really know?," IAW Discussion Papers 16, Institut für Angewandte Wirtschaftsforschung (IAW). [Downloadable!]
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  10. Roger Gordon & Wei Li, 2005. "Tax Structure in Developing Countries: Many Puzzles and a Possible Explanation," NBER Working Papers 11267, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  11. repec:cup:cbooks:9780521622912 is not listed on IDEAS
  12. Heady, Christopher, 2001. "Taxation Policy in Low-Income Countries," Working Papers UNU-WIDER Research Paper , World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER). [Downloadable!]
  13. Richard M. Bird, 2003. "Administrative Dimensions of Tax Reform," International Tax Program Papers 0302, International Tax Program, Institute for International Business, Joseph L. Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto, revised May 2003. [Downloadable!]
  14. Tridimas, George & Winer, Stanley L., 2005. "The political economy of government size," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 21(3), pages 643-666, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  15. Richard M. Bird & Eric M. Zolt, 2005. "Redistribution via Taxation: The Limited Role of the Personal Income Tax in Developing Countries," International Tax Program Papers 0508, International Tax Program, Institute for International Business, Joseph L. Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto. [Downloadable!]
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  16. Richard M. Bird, 2006. "Taxing Land and Property in Emerging Economies: Raising Revenue...and More?," International Tax Program Papers 0605, International Tax Program, Institute for International Business, Joseph L. Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto. [Downloadable!]
  17. Warlters, Michael & Auriol, Emmanuelle, 2005. "The marginal cost of public funds in Africa," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3679, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
  18. Toye, John, 2000. "Fiscal Crisis and Fiscal Reform in Developing Countries," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 24(1), pages 21-44, January.
  19. Emran, M. Shahe & Stiglitz, Joseph E., 2005. "On selective indirect tax reform in developing countries," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(4), pages 599-623, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  20. Michael Keen, 2007. "VAT Attacks!," IMF Working Papers 07/142, International Monetary Fund. [Downloadable!]
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  21. Graziella Bertocchi, 2007. "The Vanishing Bequest Tax: The Comparative Evolution of Bequest Taxation in Historical Perspective," IZA Discussion Papers 2578, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
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  22. Richard M. Bird & Jorge Martinez-Vazquez & Benno Torgler, 2004. "Societal Institutions and Tax Effort in Developing Countries," International Tax Program Papers 0411, International Tax Program, Institute for International Business, Joseph L. Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto. [Downloadable!]
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  23. Shah, Anwar & Whalley, John, 1991. "Tax Incidence Analysis of Developing Countries: An Alternative View," World Bank Economic Review, Oxford University Press, vol. 5(3), pages 535-52, September.
  24. Auerbach, Alan J. & Hines, James Jr., 2002. "Taxation and economic efficiency," Handbook of Public Economics, in: A. J. Auerbach & M. Feldstein (ed.), Handbook of Public Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 21, pages 1347-1421 Elsevier. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  25. Peter Lindert, 2004. "Social Spending and Economic Growth," Challenge, M.E. Sharpe, Inc., vol. 47(4), pages 6-16, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  26. Chu, K.-y. & Davoodi, H. & Gupta, S., 2000. "Income Distribution and Tax, and Government Social Spending Policies in Developing Countries," Research Paper 214, World Institute for Development Economics Research.
  27. Auriol, Emmanuelle & Warlters, Michael, 2005. "Taxation base in developing countries," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(4), pages 625-646, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  28. Alberto Alesina & George-Marios Angeletos, 2003. "Fairness and Redistribution: U.S. versus Europe," NBER Working Papers 9502, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  29. Richard M Bird & Eric M Zolt, 2008. "Tax policy in emerging countries," Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy, Pion Ltd, London, vol. 26(1), pages 73-86, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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Full references

Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Richard M. Bird, 2008. "The BBLR Approach to tax Reform in Emerging Countries," International Studies Program Working Paper Series, at AYSPS, GSU paper0804, International Studies Program, Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Georgia State University. [Downloadable!]
  2. Ahmed, Vaqar & O'Donoghue, Cathal, 2009. "Redistributive effect of personal income taxation in Pakistan," MPRA Paper 16700, University Library of Munich, Germany. [Downloadable!]
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