Regional Conference - Zambia

Online discussion

FIAS and the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) have conducted studies of the effect of tax on businesses in 10 African countries over the past 18 months: Lesotho, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tanzania, and Zambia.

Having completed these 10 country studies, FIAS and DFID organized a conference in Livingstone, Zambia, from February 26-27th 2007. The purpose of the event was to bring together tax policy-makers and implementors from each of the countries studied and outside tax experts to present their results and to discuss possible solutions to the common issues raised in the studies.
Among the questions we debated were:

• What are the most appropriate and effective tools to tax small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to increase the tax bar and facilitate growth?
• How can the VAT instrument be fine-tuned to better service clients of all sizes and thus streamline the collection process?
• Are tax incentives an effective way of spurring investment?

There were around 60 attendees, most of whom are tax practitioners in Southern and Eastern Africa.

Conference Agenda & Participant List

Presentations

Sector Issues: Agriculture
Paul Barbour, FIAS

VAT: Why the private sector complain so much and what we may be able to do about it
David Child, FIAS

South Africa: Selected Findings of the Survey of Tax Practitioners
Jacqueline Coolidge, FIAS

VAT in Rwanda: Why the private sector complains
Bumbakare P. Celestin, Rwanda Revenue Authority

VAT: Why the private sector complain so much, and what we may be able to do about it
Yusuf Dodia, Zambia Private Sector Development Association

Why does tax matter? Expectations for the Conference
Max Everest-Phillips, DFID

Do Revenue Authorities have the correct incentives to promote private investment and raise tax revenue? The political dimension
Max Everest-Phillips, DFID

Do Revenue Authorities as institutions have the correct incentives to promote private investment and raise necessary revenue?
Dr. Odd-Helge Fjeldstad, Chr. Michelsen Institute

Where do we go from here? Next Steps - Capacity building
Professor Riel Franszen, Southern Africa Tax Institute

Where do we go from here? Next Steps - Regional perspective
Martin Grote, SADC Tax Working Group

The taxation of SME: Policy against administration?
Alain Jousten, IMF

Do Revenue Authorities as institutions have the correct incentives to promote private investment and raise necessary revenue?
Dr. John Karimu, National Revenue Authority of Sierra Leone

Tax Compliance Costs for SMEs
Luke Kirsten, South Africa Revenue Service

Tax Compliance Costs for SMEs
Jacqueline Kobusingye, Uganda Revenue Authority

Sector Issues: Mining - Financial Services
Charles Krakoff, FIAS

Analysis of the Effective Tax Burden on Investment in Ten Sub-Saharan African Countries
Professor Kennneth J. McKenzie, University of Calgary

Small Business Taxation in Transition Countries
Andrei Mikhnev, The World Bank

VAT: Why the private sector complain so much and what we may be able to do about it
Jyoti Mistry, PWC, Zambia

Sector Issues: Manufacturing
Rina Harpinder Oberai, FIAS

Small Business & Informality: Brief Introduction to the challenges and opportunities
Rina Harpinder Oberai, FIAS

Tax through the Growth Lens. Setting the Stage
Richard Stern, FIAS

Sector Issues: Tourism
Wayne Troughton, FIAS

Tax policy and tax administration: Is there a disconnect?
Michael Waweru, Kenya Revenue Authority

Papers presented at the conference

Discussion on Revenues Authorities and the Incentives to promote PSD

Discussion on VAT and Private Sector Concerns

Report on SME session break-out groups: Designing an SME tax regime

Designing a Small Business Tax System that Enhances Growth: Lessons from Africa
Paul Barbour and Richard Stern, FIAS

VAT: Why the private sector complain so much and what we may be able to do about it
David Child, FIAS

VAT and the Private Sector
Yusuf Dodia, Zambia Private Sector Development Association

Creating a Favorable Tax Environment for Small Business Development in Transition Countries
Michael Engelschalk, The World Bank

Do Revenue Authorities as institutions have the correct incentives to promote private investment and raise necessary revenue?
Charles Jenkins, Lesotho Revenue Authority

Is there a disconnect between tax policy and tax administration?
Margaret Olowu, Ministry of Finance, Government of Nigeria

Do Revenue Authorities as institutions have the correct incentives to promote private investment and raise necessary revenue?
Gersham Pasi, Zimbabwe Revenue Authority

Background papers

Sector studies of the effective tax burden in Namibia (report and annexes), Rwanda, South Africa, and Zambia