The centre for tax analysis in developing countries

Institute for Fiscal Studies

News, Blogs and Events

Up-to-date news, blogs, events and activities from across the programme.

News

Rwanda publishes its seventh tax expenditure report

The Rwandan Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning (MINECOFIN) published its seventh tax expenditure report in May 2025....

News

Presentation | Taxing capital income and wealth in low- and middle-income countries: practice, principles and gaps

From 9th - 11th June 2025, leading thinkers and policymakers gathered in Helsinki for UNU-WIDER's flagship conference 'Safeguarding tomorrow – innovative approaches to growth and equity' taking pla...

Laura Abramovsky UNU-WIDER flagship conference

Blog

Why supporting domestic revenue mobilisation matters even more in an era of aid cuts – and how it could be improved

This blog was originally published on odi.org on 30 June 2025 ...

Event

FfD4 Side Event | From Insight to Impact: Harnessing Research Collaboration to Build Better Tax Systems

TaxDev co-hosted a side event at the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4) in Seville, Spain, in partnership with the ...

Date: 3rd July 2025

Event type: Conference

From Insight to Impact side event image

News

Presentation: Tax Expenditure Rationalisation

On Friday 6th June 2025, TaxDev researcher Hazel Granger delivered a presentation at the Fifth Virtual Meeting of the Community of Practice on Tax Expenditures, organised by the Addis Tax Initiativ...

Fifth Virtual Meeting of the Community of Practice on Tax Expenditures graphic

News

Ugandan Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development publishes its Fourth tax expenditure report

In April 2025, the Ugandan Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development (MoFPED) published its Tax Expenditure Report for the fiscal year 2023/24, developed in collaboration with the Ugan...

News

Job announcement: Country Economist (Kenya)

ODI is seeking applications for a Country Economist to work closely with our partners at the National Treasury of Kenya....

News

Call for papers: 7th World Bank/ODI Global/IFS Public Finance Conference

7th World Bank/ODI Global/IFS Public Finance Conference September 25-26, 2025, in London, United Kingdom | Submission by May 15th, 2025...

Blog

Enlisting Consumers in Tax Enforcement: A Policy Review

Over the last decades, governments worldwide have adopted incentive programmes that enlist consumers in tax enforcement efforts through monetary rewards....

News

TaxDev collaborating with Government of Ghana on VAT, customs, and distributional analysis

In these videos our partners from the Revenue Policy Division of the Ghanaian Ministry of Finance explain how our joint work is helping to improve specific areas of tax policy analysis and the poli...

News

Ghana publishes major new VAT report

Ghana’s Ministry of Finance has published a major new report – A review of Ghana’s value-added tax (VAT) system....

Blog

How Peru transformed natural resource wealth into local economic development

This blog was originally published on voxdev.org on 4 February 2025 ...

Event

Data, Statistics and Tools for Development-focused Public Finance

The increasing complexity of development challenges requires sophisticated data and statistical frameworks to inform public finance decisions and accelerate SDG progress....

Date: 31st January 2025

Event type: Conference

2025 Dialogue on Public Finance and the SDGS conference graphic

News

9th Zurich Conference on Public Finance in Developing Countries

December 16th-17th 2024, in Zurich, Switzerland...

News

Announcement: François Gerard joins TaxDev as new Research Director

We are pleased to announce the appointment of François Gerard as TaxDev’s new Research Director....

Francois Gerard

News

Job announcement: Senior Technical Advisors

ODI is seeking applications for Senior Technical Advisors (STA) to work closely with TaxDev Country Economists and partners in country governments....

Blog

Reform or Replace? Three country perspectives on the use of tax incentives for structural transformation

This blog was originally published on odi.org on 23 October 2024 ...

News

Survey of the Ghanaian Tax System

Ghana’s Ministry of Finance (MoF) has published an updated Survey of the Ghanaian Tax System, produced jointly with TaxDev researchers from the Institute for Fiscal Studies (UK)....

News

Ethiopia publishes its first National Medium-Term Revenue Strategy

In October 2024, the Government of Ethiopia published its first National Medium-Term Revenue Strategy (NMTRS), setting out a roadmap for reform of key elements of tax policy and administration for ...

News

Job announcement: Research Assistant

The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) is seeking a Research Assistant to join the TaxDev team....

Blog

How Rwanda embedded tax expenditure reporting: 7 key lessons for practitioners

This blog was originally published on odi.org on 29 September 2024 ...

Event

6th World Bank/IFS/ODI Public Finance Conference | Driving Progress: Public Finance and Structural Transformation

This conference brought together leading researchers and policymakers to discuss recent research on the political economy of public finances....

Date: 26th September 2024

Event type: Conference

Picture of workers looking at electricity pylons with details of the 6th World Bank/IFS/ODI Public Finance Conference

News

Presentation: Gendered fiscal incidence analysis and tax-benefit microsimulation models: Overview, opportunities, and caveats

On Tuesday 10th September 2024, TaxDev researcher Laura Abramovsky, and Pia Rattenhuber from UNU-WIDER, jointly delivered a presentation on “Gendered fiscal incidence analysis and tax-benefit micro...

News

Presentation: Taxing the rich

On Tuesday 3rd September 2024, TaxDev researcher Hazel Granger joined an expert panel to discuss how to tax the super-rich....

Photo of attendees of online meeting

News

Ugandan Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development publishes tax expenditure report for 2022/23

In August 2024 the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development (MoFPED) published its tax expenditure report for the fiscal year 2022/23....

News

TaxDev Special Session: The taxation of wealth in low- and middle-income countries (L&MICs): What does the evidence tell us, and what are the gaps?

TaxDev Special Session: The taxation of wealth in low- and middle-income countries (L&MICs): What does the evidence tell us, and what are the gaps?...

Blog

Look beyond the tampon tax: alternative solutions to close gender gaps

This blog was originally published on odi.org on 10 July 2024 ...

Blog

The problem with tax potential estimates – key considerations to develop sustainable tax systems

This blog was originally published on odi.org on 3 June 2024 ...

News

Call for papers: 9th Zurich Conference on Public Finance in Developing Countries

9th Zurich Conference on Public Finance in Developing Countries December 16th-17th 2024, in Zurich, Switzerland | Submission by July 8th, 2024....

9th Zurich Conference call for papers. Paper deadline is July 8th 2024.

News

Rwanda publishes its sixth tax expenditure report

The Rwandan Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning (MINECOFIN) published its sixth tax expenditure report in May 2024....

News

Presentation: Wealth-related taxes in low- and middle-income countries

On Friday 17th May 2024, TaxDev researcher Laura Abramovsky delivered a presentation on 'Wealth-related taxes in low- and middle-income countries' at an online meeting of officials from the ...

News

Call for papers: 6th World Bank/IFS/ODI Public Finance Conference

6th World Bank/IFS/ODI Public Finance Conference Driving Progress: Public Finance and Structural Transformation...

Call for papers

News

Ghana publishes its first Medium-Term Revenue Strategy

On 30th September 2023, the Government of Ghana published its first Medium-Term Revenue Strategy (MTRS), setting out a plan for review and reform of key elements of both revenue policy and administ...

Blog

The tax incentive regime in Honduras

Honduras has a long history of providing generous tax incentives to firms and consumers, primarily as part of an effort to attract foreign direct investment....

News

FCDO renews TaxDev funding for the next seven years

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) has ...

Tax expenditure workshop in Kampala

Event

5th World Bank/IFS/ODI Tax Conference: The political economy of public finances

This conference brought together leading researchers and policymakers to discuss recent research on the political economy of public finances....

21st September 2023

Conference

News

Ghana's Ministry of Finance and TaxDev host VAT and distributional analysis event

On 20th June 2023, the Ministry of Finance in Ghana, in collaboration with TaxDev, invited stakeholders from government, the private sector, and civil society to an event previewing the findings of...

News

Paper by Anne Brockmeyer awarded 2023 ADB–IEA Innovative Policy Research Award

Anne...

News

Call for papers: 5th World Bank/IFS/ODI Research Conference

5th World Bank/IFS/ODI Research Conference The Political Economy of Public Finances...

Conference

News

Ethiopia publishes its second tax expenditure report for FY 2018/19 to FY 2020/21

The Ethiopian Ministry of Finance (MoF) has published its second tax expenditure report covering customs duty and import taxes for the fiscal year 2018/19 to 2020/21....

Blog

Ugandan Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development publishes tax expenditure report for 2021/22

In September 2022 the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development (MoFPED) published its tax expenditure report for 2021/22....

Blog

The long view: how tax expenditures affect revenue over multiple years

This is the last of three blog posts we’re posting following the TaxDev Tax Expenditures Workshop held on 6–8 February 2023 in Kampala....

Kampala, Uganda

Blog

How a tax exemption can increase revenues

This is the second of three blog posts we’re posting following the TaxDev Tax Expenditures Workshop held on 6–8 February 2023 in Kampala.  ...

Food market

Blog

Effective tax rates and firm size

What is this research about and why did you do it?...

Blog

Three key takeaways from our TaxDev Tax Expenditures Workshop

This is the first of three blog posts we will be posting following the TaxDev Tax Expenditures Workshop held on 6–8 February 2023 in Kampala. ...

Blog

At a glance: Two decades of Employment Income Tax in Africa

This article was first published on ...

Blog

Inflation, incomes and inequality – how can lower-income countries use fiscal policy to the greatest effect?

This blog was first published on odi.org on 21 November 2022 ...

Exchanging bank notes in a marketplace

Blog

The devil in the detail? Eight lessons from tax expenditure reporting in Rwanda and Uganda

In recent years, an increasing number of low- and middle-income countries have start...

News

TaxDev researcher participates in regional tax expenditure governance workshops

Kyle McNabb recently participated in regional workshops in Lagos and ...

Event

Why and how should developing countries raise more taxes?

Governments in many developing countries urgently need to raise funds to invest in education, health and infrastructure....

1st November 2022

Webinar

Blog

Can fiscal policy reduce inequality in a globalized world?

Tax havens, offshore wealth, automatic exchange of information; these terms can appear opaque to the non-initiated, but understanding them is important—they refer to the vexing issue of internation...

Event

Conference on global tax equity

Inequality is one of the global challenges of our times. This phenomenon is increasingly cross-border in nature and suffers from a lack of data....

22nd September 2022

Conference

Blog

The impact of COVID-19 on formal firms: micro tax data simulations across countries

What is this research about and why did you do it?...

Kigali business district

News

Lucie Gadenne gives keynote lecture at International Institute for Public Finance Annual Congress 2022

On 11th August 2022, Lucie Gadenne gave a keynote lecture on "Public finance in developing countries" at the International Institute for Public Finance Annual Congress 2022. ...

Blog

Will the digital revolution unleash the potential of property taxation?

A new ODI report discusses some of the ways in which digitalisation is revolutionising property...

News

Rwanda publishes its fourth tax expenditure report

In May 2022 the Government of Rwanda published its tax expenditure report for 2020/21....

News

TaxDev hosts Commissioner General of Ghana Revenue Authority

On Tuesday 10th May, TaxDev hosted a delegation of senior officials from the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) and the Ministry of Finance, including the Commissioner General of GRA, Ammisha...

News

Rwanda produces a Medium-Term Revenue Strategy

On Friday 13th May 2022, the Government of Rwanda approved its first Medium-Term Revenue Strategy (MTRS)....

News

TaxDev researcher awarded honourable mention by the 2022 John Heinz Dissertation Award

Dániel Prinz, Senior Research Economist and Country Programme Manager for Ethiopia at the IFS and TaxDev, was awarded an Honourable Mention by the 2022 John Heinz Dissertation Award....

Blog

The effect of electronic transactions on tax compliance: evidence from West Bengal

A one-off demonetisation led to a shift to electronic payments, which in turn increased tax compliance...

News

TaxDev researchers visit Ghana

In March 2022, TaxDev co-organised a number of workshops in collaboration with partners from the Tax Policy Unit (TPU) at the Ministry of Finance and the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA)....

Blog

Does going cashless make you tax-rich? Evidence from India’s demonetisation

Transactions in developing economies are becoming increasingly cashless....

Event

Launching the TaxDev employment income taxes dataset: new insights from Africa

How is employment income taxed in low- and middle-income countries, how has this evolved over time, and how has it shaped taxpayer behaviour?...

27th January 2022

Webinar

Event

Conference on new tax instruments

In collaboration with the World Bank, this conference brought together leading researchers and policymakers to discuss recent research on new tax instruments, including&nbsp...

30th September 2021

Conference

News

TaxDev researchers participate in the NTA conference

TaxDev researchers, Daniel Prinz, Dario Tortarolo, and Ross Warwick recently participated in the ...

News

TaxDev researchers present at the 9th International Domestic Resource Mobilisation Workshop

As part of the ...

Blog

Well-designed tax policy reforms are key to successful post-COVID fiscal consolidation in Africa

Given the massive impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on public finances globally, it is little surprise that the IMF’s October 2021 forecasts of debt and debt servicing costs in sub-Saharan Africa are...

Blog

What is the case for carbon taxes in developing countries?

Carbon pricing will be one of the most talked about policy options at COP26....

Blog

Better-designed taxes on motoring can make African countries cleaner, safer and more productive

Although vehicle ownership rates in sub-Saharan Africa are, on average, only 10% of the global average, the number of cars and motorcycles in the region is growing fast - particularly in countries ...

News

TaxDev delivers tax policy appraisal and costing training in Ethiopia and Ghana

In October 2021, TaxDev researchers delivered a series of workshops with analytical staff from the Ministeries of Finance and Revenue Authorities in Ethiopia and Ghana....

News

TaxDev researcher awarded honourable mention by the National Tax Association

Daniel Prinz awarded an honourable mention by the National Tax Association...

News

IFS Associate Director awarded UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship

Anne Brockmeyer awarded a UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Future Leaders Fellowship. ...

News

TaxDev publishes new tax policy appraisal and costing manuals and templates

One of the key functions of tax policy units is to develop and assess tax policy proposals. What problem do the proposals try to address?...

Event

Revenue challenges and opportunities in Africa following the COVID-19 pandemic

The uneven roll-out of vaccines around the world means that the health and economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic are likely to be particularly challenging for low-and middle-income countries, i...

7th July 2021

Webinar

News

Rwanda publishes its third tax expenditure report

Rwanda’s tax expenditure report for 2019/20 was completed and published in May 2021....

Blog

How developing countries can boost their property tax revenues: evidence from Mexico City

Developing countries raise less revenue as a share of GDP than higher-income countries in general, but the gap is striking for property taxes in particular (see Figure 1)....

News

TaxDev researchers give presentation on the impact of COVID-19 at CTRPFP's annual training workshop

As part of the Centre for Training and Research in Public Finance and Policy's (CTRPFP) annual Trainin...

News

TaxDev researchers participate in workshop on the role of independent fiscal policy research institutes

In November 2020, IFS researchers Christine Farquharson, David Phillips, and Yani Tyskerud participated in a collaborative virtual seminar with Oxford Policy Management (OPM), the ...

Event

Conference on taxing personal income and wealth in developing countries

Together with the World Bank, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Norwegian University of Life Sciences (Skatteforsk), Columbia University, OTPR - Office of Tax Policy Research and University of Mic...

24th September 2020

Conference

Blog

How does lockdown affect firms in developing countries?

The Covid-19 pandemic is generating a vast shock to both the supply and demand for goods and services (...

News

TaxDev supports mid-year budget preparations in Ghana

In June and July 2020 IFS researchers provided support to the Tax Policy Unit (TPU) in analysing various policy proposals ahead of Ghana’s annual mid-year budget event....

News

TaxDev supports tax policy responses to COVID-19 in Ethiopia

Between March and June 2020, TaxDev researchers provided support to the Tax Policy Directorate (TPD) at the Ethiopian Ministry of Finance to identify potential fisc...

News

Rwanda publishes its second tax expenditure report

Rwanda’s tax expenditure report for 2018/19 was completed and published in June 2020....

News

TaxDev researchers present on tax policy responses to COVID-19, in collaboration with the OECD and regional tax associations

In April, May and June 2020, TaxDev researchers David Phillips and Iain Steel participated in a series of virtual seminars in collaboration with the OECD, regional associations of tax a...

News

TaxDev supports Rwanda in its response to COVID-19

TaxDev helped inform the policy actions taken by Rwanda in immediate response to COVID-19 in April...

Blog

Using administrative tax data to understand the implications of COVID-19 (coronavirus) for formal firms

The COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic and associated containment measures are expected to cause far-reaching damage to economies around the world....

Blog

The tax policy response to coronavirus should aim at providing targeted support not broad-based stimulus, at least for now – and especially in low- and middle-income countries

The coronavirus pandemic is first and foremost a public health crisis....

News

Ghanaian officials visit IFS

Six officials from Ghana's Ministry of Finance and the Ghana Revenue Authority visited IFS for six days in January and February 2020....

Blog

Four expert views on the future of tax for development

With ten years to go to deliver the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), attention is on mobilising domestic revenue to support governments in providing effective public services....

News

The quest for a simpler and more efficient Goods and Services Tax

In the context of disappointing revenue figures – which were down 5% year-on-year in October – the Government of India has constituted a high-level committee to suggest reforms to the Goods and Ser...

News

Lucie Gadenne features on Trade Talks podcast

TaxDev Research Fellow Lucie Gadenne joined Soumaya Keynes and Chad P....

News

TaxDev team delivers training in Addis Ababa

Tom Harris and David Phillips from the TaxDev team delivered two successful sets of training to partners from the Tax Policy Directorate (TPD) in the Ethiopian Ministry of Finance...

News

TaxDev funding renewed

The Department for International Development (DFID) has renewed funding for the Centre for Tax Analysis in Developing Countries (TaxDev) until November 2022....

News

Do tax systems distort firm-to-firm trade?

In this video, TaxDev Research Fellow Lucie Gadenne discusses research investigating the effects of tax policy on supplier networks in India. ...

News

New paper looks at ration shops in low and middle income countries

Ration shops allow households to purchase limited quantities of certain goods at subsidised prices, and are used by governments in a numbre of low and middle income countries....

News

TaxDev meets with Tajiki delegation

In the UK, the IFS plays a leading role in informing the public debate and scrutinising government and opposition tax and spending policy decisions and proposals....

News

IFS researcher delivers skills training with civil servants from Ethiopia

India Keable-Elliott from the IFS's TaxDev recently delivered remote training on data management and analysis to partners at the Ethiopian Ministry of Finance and Economic Cooperation (MoFEC)....

News

Ghanaian civil servants learn how to use GHATAX microsimulation model

This week, Ghana's Ministry of Finance has organised and delivered a training  workshop for civil servants from the Ministry and the Revenue Authority on GHATAX, the microsimulation model...

News

Ross Warwick discusses the impact of VAT in low and middle income countries

As in many high-income countries, developing countries often exempt or apply reduced rates of VAT to food and other goods and services in an effort to limit the impacts of VAT on poorer households'...

News

TaxDev helping improve tax policy analysis in Ghana

Our partners from the Ghanaian Ministry of Finance joined us in London for the TaxDev Policy Conference on March 23rd, w...

Event

TaxDev policy conference

Governments in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) need to raise sufficient tax revenues in order to invest in human and physical capital and expand social protection programmes....

23rd March 2018

Conference

News

IFS and Ghanaian Ministry of Finance disseminate their joint work

Researchers from IFS TaxDev were in Accra on 7th March 2018 for an event hosted by the Ghanaian Ministry of Finance (MoF)....

News

Analysts from Ghanaian Government visit IFS, HM Treasury and HMRC

Analysts from the Ghanaian Ministry of Finance (MoF) and Revenue Authority (GRA) have completed a two week visit to the London offices of the IFS....

Ghanian government analysts visit the IFS

News

The role of evidence for tax policy and administration design

On 1st September of 2017, Laura Abramovsky spoke at HMRC's International Tax Training Programme, a flagship programme run by HMRC on behalf of the Commonwealth Association of Tax Administrator...

News

TaxDev and Ghana’s Ministry of Finance organise four-day workshop with Ethiopian tax policymakers and administrators

Researchers from the DfID-funded Centre for Tax Analysis in Developing Countries (TaxDev) at the IFS have completed their most recent trip to Ghana’s Ministry of Finance as part of our collaborativ...

News

Improving tax policy and administration and tax policy-making in Ethiopia

Researchers from the Centre for Tax Analysis in Developing Countries (TaxDev) at the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) are collaborating with the recently established Tax Policy Directorate (TPD) ...

News

TaxDev research workshop: Business taxation in low- and middle-income countries

On 25th May 2017 The Centre for Tax Analysis in Developing Countries (TaxDev) hosted a research workshop on the taxation of businesses in low- and middle-income countries, attended ...

News

Deputy Minister of Finance for Ghana visits IFS

Ghana’s Deputy Minister of Finance, Kwaku Kwarteng, visited IFS on Friday 5 May 2017 to discuss our partnership and ongoing work programme with the Ministry of Finance (MoF) and the Ghana Revenue A...

Event

A taxing challenge? Analysing and supporting tax policy design in low and middle income countries

Low income countries typically raise less than 20% of their GDP from taxation, and this affects their ability to invest in human capital and infrastructure, foster equitable growth and reduce pover...

27th March 2017

UK Government Centres of Expertise - Public Finance UK-RI-ESRC