Recent Experience with Tax Reform in Developing Countries

Over the last decade and a half there has been a wave of tax reform activity that has swept across many developing countries. Hardly a single country in Latin America has been left untouched by this movement. During the 1980s major tax reforms have occurred in Mexico, Bolivia and Colombia while current reform initiatives are being actively discussed in Argentina, Venezuela, Guatemala and elsewhere. Earlier, in the 1970s, significant tax reforms had been introduced into Chile, Uruguay and Colombia. In Asia, Korea, and Indonesia provide important examples of recent, and successful, tax reform while in other countries such as the Philippines this process is just beginning. In Africa one can point to Malawi, Zimbabwe, Morocco and Kenya as countries that have made new efforts to improve the performance of their tax systems. Comprehensive tax reforms undertaken in Turkey during the 1980s illustrate that the rising tide of tax reform has also encroached on the Middle East.