Fair Taxation in the Middle East and North Africa

Fair Taxation in the Middle East and North Africa PDF Author: Mario Mansour
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
ISBN: 1513563564
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 36

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Book Description
Fairness – and what governments can do about it – is at the forefront of economic and social debate all over the world. In MENA, this has been at the core of recent political transitions but has not been adequately addressed. This SDN explores how tax systems – a critical interface between the state and citizens – can play a role in meeting demands for greater economic fairness in MENA countries. The SDN finds that for countries with well-established non-hydrocarbon tax systems (mostly oil importers) reforms should focus on simplifying tax structures and introducing more progressivity of personal income taxes, broadening tax bases, and better designing and enforcing property taxes. Tax administration should be more efficient and user-friendly while simplifying tax regimes will reduce the scope for arbitrary implementation. MENA countries with less established non-hydrocarbon revenue systems can begin with a “starter pack” that includes introduction of low-rate value-added and corporate income taxes, excises, and property taxes while building up administrative capacity and taxation expertise together with plans for introducing a personal income tax. Across the region, effective communication, transparency, and constructive dialogue between the State and citizens are critical to the success of reforms.

Fair Taxation in the Middle East and North Africa

Fair Taxation in the Middle East and North Africa PDF Author: Mario Mansour
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
ISBN: 1513563564
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 36

Get Book Here

Book Description
Fairness – and what governments can do about it – is at the forefront of economic and social debate all over the world. In MENA, this has been at the core of recent political transitions but has not been adequately addressed. This SDN explores how tax systems – a critical interface between the state and citizens – can play a role in meeting demands for greater economic fairness in MENA countries. The SDN finds that for countries with well-established non-hydrocarbon tax systems (mostly oil importers) reforms should focus on simplifying tax structures and introducing more progressivity of personal income taxes, broadening tax bases, and better designing and enforcing property taxes. Tax administration should be more efficient and user-friendly while simplifying tax regimes will reduce the scope for arbitrary implementation. MENA countries with less established non-hydrocarbon revenue systems can begin with a “starter pack” that includes introduction of low-rate value-added and corporate income taxes, excises, and property taxes while building up administrative capacity and taxation expertise together with plans for introducing a personal income tax. Across the region, effective communication, transparency, and constructive dialogue between the State and citizens are critical to the success of reforms.

Fair Taxation in the Middle East and North Africa

Fair Taxation in the Middle East and North Africa PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781513537344
Category :
Languages : fr
Pages :

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Book Description


Fair Taxation in the Middle East and Northern Africa

Fair Taxation in the Middle East and Northern Africa PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Natural resources
Languages : en
Pages : 36

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Book Description
Fairness - and what governments can do about it - is at the forefront of economic and social debate all over the world. In MENA, this has been at the core of recent political transitions but has not been adequately addressed. This SDN explores how tax systems - a critical interface between the state and citizens - can play a role in meeting demands for greater economic fairness in MENA countries. The SDN finds that for countries with well-established non-hydrocarbon tax systems (mostly oil importers) reforms should focus on simplifying tax structures and introducing more progressivity of personal income taxes, broadening tax bases, and better designing and enforcing property taxes. Tax administration should be more efficient and user-friendly while simplifying tax regimes will reduce the scope for arbitrary implementation. MENA countries with less established non-hydrocarbon revenue systems can begin with a "starter pack" that includes introduction of low-rate value-added and corporate income taxes, excises, and property taxes while building up administrative capacity and taxation expertise together with plans for introducing a personal income tax. Across the region, effective communication, transparency, and constructive dialogue between the State and citizens are critical to the success of reforms.

Personal Income Taxes in the Middle East and North Africa: Prospects and Possibilities

Personal Income Taxes in the Middle East and North Africa: Prospects and Possibilities PDF Author: Mario Mansour
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
ISBN:
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 39

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Book Description
Personal income taxes (PITs) play little or no role in the Middle East and North Africa, often yielding less than 2 percent of GDP in revenue—with the exception of few North African countries. This paper examines how PITs have evolved in recent decades, and what they might look like in the next 20 years. Top marginal tax rates on labor and business income of individuals have declined substantially, a trend that mirrors reductions in advanced and developing economies. Taxation of passive capital income has changed very little, and the revenue intake from this source remains low throughout the region (less than 1 percent of GDP on average and concentrated in oil-importing non-fragile states). Social security contributions (SSC) have increased in importance in nearly all MENA countries, and some countries have introduced additional payroll taxes. The combination of reduced marginal tax rates, light taxation of income from capital and business activities, and increase of SSC, have resulted in income tax systems that create disincentives to work and incentives for informality, and contribute little to government revenue and income redistribution. Given differences in economic and political structures, demographics, and starting points, the path to PIT/SSC reforms will vary across the region. Countries with relatively mature PIT/SSC systems, where revenue performance has improved in the past two decades, will increasingly need to balance the revenue and equity objectives against effciency objectives (in particular labor market incentives and infromality). Countries with no PITs will have to weigh whether a consumption tax/SSC system that mimic a flat tax on labor income is sufficient to diversify revenue away from oil and whether to adopt PITs to address rising income and wealth inequality. Finally, fragile states, who face more political volatility and weaker fiscal institutions, will have to focus on simplicity of tax design and collection to be able to raise revenue from PITs.

Fair Taxation in the Middle East and North Africa

Fair Taxation in the Middle East and North Africa PDF Author: Mario Mansour
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
ISBN: 1513519751
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 36

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Book Description
Fairness – and what governments can do about it – is at the forefront of economic and social debate all over the world. In MENA, this has been at the core of recent political transitions but has not been adequately addressed. This SDN explores how tax systems – a critical interface between the state and citizens – can play a role in meeting demands for greater economic fairness in MENA countries. The SDN finds that for countries with well-established non-hydrocarbon tax systems (mostly oil importers) reforms should focus on simplifying tax structures and introducing more progressivity of personal income taxes, broadening tax bases, and better designing and enforcing property taxes. Tax administration should be more efficient and user-friendly while simplifying tax regimes will reduce the scope for arbitrary implementation. MENA countries with less established non-hydrocarbon revenue systems can begin with a “starter pack” that includes introduction of low-rate value-added and corporate income taxes, excises, and property taxes while building up administrative capacity and taxation expertise together with plans for introducing a personal income tax. Across the region, effective communication, transparency, and constructive dialogue between the State and citizens are critical to the success of reforms.

Taxation and Tax Policies in the Middle East

Taxation and Tax Policies in the Middle East PDF Author: Hossein Askari
Publisher: Butterworth-Heinemann
ISBN:
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 384

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Book Description
Analysis of the structure and role of taxes in the Middle East, assessing present and future policy options. The role of taxes in developing countries is discussed, assessing the implication of Islam for taxation and comparing the fiscal history of sixteen Middle Eastern countries. A detailed evaluation of taxation and tax policy is made for the oil exporters as well as for the non-oil exporters.

Tax Systems of Africa, Asia, and the Middle East

Tax Systems of Africa, Asia, and the Middle East PDF Author: C. J. Platt
Publisher: Gower Publishing Company, Limited
ISBN:
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 272

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Book Description
Of taxes on income and capital gains.

Taxation Policy and Gender Employment in the Middle East and North Africa Region

Taxation Policy and Gender Employment in the Middle East and North Africa Region PDF Author: Ismael Fofana
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Empirical evidence suggests that women are more vulnerable to chronic poverty and gender inequality is likely to condition the impacts of policies on the rest of the economy and consequently on poverty itself. While gender-responsive budgeting has made significant headway into economic policy, taxation has lagged behind. Because tax policy is the most economically direct way by which governments can influence individual behavior, requests have been made for gender-responsive tax policy that promote gender equality. This study applied to Algeria, Egypt, Morocco, and Tunisia aims to contribute to this debate by assessing the induced gender employment bias of current taxation policies in these countries. It explores the pattern of male and female employment and discusses the indirect tax distortions across sectors within each country and between countries. The possible impact of the indirect tax distortion on male and female employment is quantitatively assessed using a gender-focused computable general equilibrium model. The analysis reveals that indirect taxes, in particular import duties, are biased for female employment in Algeria and Egypt, but not in Morocco and Tunisia. Female labor-intensive industries in Algeria and Egypt are highly protected in the benchmark and are not competitive internationally so that removing protection would increase competition with cheaper import substitutes and cause the sector to contract and lay off workers. In contrast, the same female labor-intensive industries are less protected in Morocco and Tunisia. Hence, removal of indirect taxes in these countries would result in quasi-neutral effects between male and female salary and wage earnings. The taxation policies in the Middle East and North Africa region have changed over the last decade and may undergo significant changes in the coming years. In light of this unpredictability, an assessment of the tax-related relative price bias on men and women constitutes a crucial step toward providing adequate guidance to planners, policymakers, and other stakeholders.

Social Policy in the Middle East and North Africa

Social Policy in the Middle East and North Africa PDF Author: Rana Jawad
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
ISBN: 1786431998
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 288

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Book Description
This book presents a state of the art in the developing field of social policy in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. It offers an up-to-date conceptual analysis of social policy programmes and discourses in the MENA region by critically reviewing the range of social insurance and social assistance schemes that are currently in existence there. It also analyses and offers suggestions on which of these policies can positively impact the region’s advancement in terms of human development and in addressing social and economic inequalities and exclusion.

Climate Change Law and Policy in the Middle East and North Africa Region

Climate Change Law and Policy in the Middle East and North Africa Region PDF Author: Damilola S. Olawuyi
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000423077
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 230

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Book Description
Climate Change Law and Policy in the Middle East and North Africa Region provides an in-depth and authoritative examination of the guiding principles of climate change law and policy in the MENA region. This volume introduces readers to the latest developments in the regulation of climate change across the region, including the applicable legislation, institutions, and key legal innovations in climate change financing, infrastructure development, and education. It outlines participatory and bottom-up legal strategies—focusing on transparency, accountability, gender justice, and other human rights safeguards—needed to achieve greater coherence and coordination in the design, approval, financing, and implementation of climate response projects across the region. With contributions from a range of experts in the field, the collection reflects on how MENA countries can advance existing national strategies around climate change, green economy, and low carbon futures through clear and comprehensive legislation. Taking an international and comparative approach, this book will be of great interest to students, scholars, and practitioners who work in the areas of climate change, environmental law and policy, and sustainable development, particularly in relation to the MENA region.