Research Brief
Finding optimal solutions for efficient youth labour policies
According to South Africa’s National Development Plan Vision 2030, serious action needs to be taken to reduce poverty and encourage economic growth. One of the main challenges involves reducing the unemployment rates in South Africa, particularly...
Working Paper
Do tax administrative interventions targeted at small businesses improve tax compliance and revenue collection?
This paper conducts an impact evaluation of the effects of two tax administration interventions—a taxpayer register expansion and education programme, and a new electronic filing system for presumptive tax—on the number of small business taxpayers...
Working Paper
Enhancing local content in Uganda’s oil and gas industry
This paper analyses policy options to promote local content in Uganda as it transitions into an oil-producing country. It contends that productive linkages between oil and gas exporters and domestic suppliers in a range of ‘connected’ goods and...
Working Paper
Tax research in South Africa
This framing paper has two main purposes. We first provide a brief survey of the economic literature on taxation in South Africa. Second, we attempt to offer some ideas about areas and topics on which more information is needed and which are...
Working Paper
Employer characteristics and youth employment outcomes in the formal sector in South Africa
Through the use of administrative tax data, this study attempts to identify the characteristics of firms that employ relatively large numbers of young people. The policy objective of this exercise is to use these insights to inform policy and...
Working Paper
Inequality, good governance and endemic corruption
Can a society suffering contests between rich and poor achieve good governance in the face of endemic corruption? We examine a stylized poor state with weak institutions in which a ‘culture of evasion’ damages state authority. Many evade tax payments...
Policy seminar
Improved compliance and a renewed social contract for the SDGs
Fri, 10 November 2023
Dar es Salaam,
Tanzania
Past event
In the media
Findings from recent research based on Ugandan administrative tax data gather visibility in the local media
Research insights and policy recommendations presented in an in-person workshop organised on 15 November 2023 in Kampala gathered visibility in several Ugandan news outlets.
Project meeting
Work-in-progress meeting on tax research collaboration in Zambia
As part of the Building up efficient and fair tax systems – lessons based on administrative tax data project, a work-in-progress meeting is held in-person between UNU-WIDER and the Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA) in Lusaka on 9-11 August 2023. The...
Wed, 9 August 2023
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Fri, 11 August 2023
Lusaka,
Zambia
Past event
Workshop
African Tax Administration Forum Master Class in collaboration with UNU-WIDER
African Tax Administration Forum (ATAF) through its Tax Academy organizes a Tax Research Master Class workshop in collaboration with UNU-WIDER. The workshop is held at the African Tax Research Network (ATRN) 8th Annual Congress on 1 September 2023...
Fri, 1 September 2023
Dar es Salaam,
Tanzania
Past event
Policy seminar
Findings from recent research based on Zambian administrative tax data
In collaboration with the Research and Statistics Unit at the Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA), UNU-WIDER organizes a dissemination workshop on two studies evaluating tax compliance in Zambia. This event allows all key stakeholders to acquaint...
Wed, 1 March 2023
Lusaka,
Zambia
Past event
Project meeting
Work-in-progress meeting on tax research collaboration in Zambia
As part of the Building up efficient and fair tax systems – lessons based on administrative tax data project, a work-in-progress meeting is held in-person between UNU-WIDER, the Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA) and Zambia Institute for Policy Analysis...
Wed, 14 September 2022
ZRA,
Lusaka,
Zambia
Past event
Webinar
Harnessing big data and ICT to boost revenues
Tue, 22 November 2022
Online,
Finland
Past event
Project meeting
Work-in-progress meeting on tax research collaboration in Uganda
Wed, 12 October 2022
Uganda Revenue Authority,
Kampala,
Uganda
Past event
Presentation
Caroline Schimanski on taxing multinational corporations in Uganda
World Bank's hybrid conference on global tax equity is organized on 22-23 September 2022. Caroline Schimanski, a World Bank and African Development Bank consultant, gives a presentation on a WIDER Working Paper at the conference. The topic of...
Thu, 22 September 2022
Hybrid,
United States
Past event
Project workshop
Work-in-progress meeting on tax research collaboration in Zambia
As part of the Building up efficient and fair tax systems – lessons based on administrative tax data project, a work-in progress meeting was held online between UNU-WIDER, Zambia Institute for Policy Analysis & Research (ZIPAR) and Zambia Revenue...
Tue, 12 October 2021
Online, Lusaka,
Zambia
Past event
Presentation
Tax data work in Tanzania presented at the Nordic Development Conference
Heikki Palviainen, Doctoral Researcher at the Tampere University, presented the collaborative research paper on the Effects of a Risk-based Approach to Tax Examinations in Tanzania, at the Nordic Development Conference (NCDE) on 16 June 2021. The...
Wed, 16 June 2021
Online,
Norway
Past event
Workshop
Code development training for Tanzania Revenue authority
UNU-WIDER organized an online code development training workshop using the Stata statistical software for the Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) staff on 20 January 2021. The objective of the training was to build the technical capacity of the TRA...
Wed, 20 January 2021
Online,
Dar es Salaam,
Tanzania
Past event
Blog
Good intentions falling short – the case of pension-related tax expenditures in South Africa
by
Agustin Redonda
April 2021
Tax benefits to boost contributions into pension funds or pension-related tax expenditures (PTEs) are used widely by governments worldwide to address...
Blog
An African in Africa: New perspectives on travelling for research
Working for an international organisation presents a host of challenges, given the vast nature of tasks that one must surmount in a fast paced and...
Working Paper
Income distribution in Uganda based on tax registers: what do top incomes say?
We use income data from tax registers at the Uganda Revenue Authority from 2011 to 2017 to estimate top income inequality, focusing on the very top—the top 1, 0.1, and 0.01 per cent of the income distribution. The focus on the extreme top is...
Journal Article
How have formal firms recovered from the pandemic?
THIS ARTICLE IS ON EARLY VIEW | This study examines how formal firms have been impacted by and recovered from the COVID-19 pandemic, by drawing on two distinct but complementary data sources. This is the first attempt to use both survey and tax...
Working Paper
How have formal firms recovered from the pandemic?
This paper examines how formal firms have been impacted by and recovered from the pandemic by drawing on two distinct but complementary data sources. This is the first attempt to use both survey and tax administrative data to measure the initial...
Technical Note
The Uganda Revenue Authority firm panel
This technical note describes the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) firm panel, which is constructed from administrative corporate income tax (CIT) returns and firm registration data for the financial years 2013/14–2019/20. The panel dataset contains...
Blog
Empirical research is crucial for better tax enforcement in the developing world
I had the privilege to participate in the UNU-WIDER Winter School as one of the lecturers. In this blog, I explain my main takeaways for students and...
Blog
Global tax reforms, net-zero, and domestic revenue: Food for thought from the DRM programme
by
Abrams M.E. Tagem
December 2022
Domestic revenue mobilization (DRM) and taxation have gained prominence lately on the global agenda, most recently with the resolution for the United...
Technical Note
Total factor productivity in South African manufacturing firms 2010–17
We update Kreuser and Newman’s (2018) total factor productivity estimates for the South African manufacturing sector using administrative data from 2009–17. We use standard implementations of the Ackerberg et al. (2015) and Wooldridge (2009)...
Blog
Secure research data lab in Uganda: A game changer for efficient and fair taxation
by
Maria Jouste, Tina Kaidu Barugahara, Nicholas Musoke
January 2023
In May 2022, the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) and UNU-WIDER collaboratively launched a secure research data laboratory facility in Kampala, Uganda...
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