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A Retrospective On Taxation In Developing Countries: Will The Weakest Link Be Strengthened?

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Nicholas Kaldor told us in 1963 that developing countries did not know how to tax, Richard Goode told us in 1984 that they still had trouble formulating and implementing tax policies, and Richard Bird tells us in 2011 that tax design and tax administration in developing countries have shown considerable improvement but there is a long way to go before taxation can properly support growth and distribution objectives. All three got it right for the time period they were studying. Some middle income countries have been closing the gap with the industrials in revenue mobilization, good tax policy and efficient administration, but the convergence in most low income countries has been much slower.

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  • Roy Bhal, 2013. "A Retrospective On Taxation In Developing Countries: Will The Weakest Link Be Strengthened?," International Center for Public Policy Working Paper Series, at AYSPS, GSU paper1318, International Center for Public Policy, Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Georgia State University.
  • Handle: RePEc:ays:ispwps:paper1318
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    1. Roy Bahl, 2017. "Metropolitan city finances in Asia and the Pacific region: issues, problems and reform options," MPDD Working Paper Series WP/17/04, United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).
    2. Luisito Bertinelli & Arnaud Bourgain & Abdoul Karim Diamoutene, 2017. "Corporate Effective Tax Rate in Sub-Saharan Africa: Evidence from Formal Companies of Mali," DEM Discussion Paper Series 17-18, Department of Economics at the University of Luxembourg.

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