Project

International Centre for Tax and Development

The International Centre for Taxation and Development (ICTD) is a 5 year research programme consortium that began in November 2010 and will end in March 2016. It is co-funded by Norad (the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation) and DFID (the UK Department for International Development).

The programme will explore the links between taxation and good governance in developing countries with a regional focus on Anglophone and Francophone Africa. The resulting research will raise and intensify the debate about taxation globally amongst policy makers, practitioners, academia, the media and the general public. Our goal is to enable tax policy to be shaped with reference to evidence based research within developing countries and internationally; promoting accountable and responsive government, building state capacity and the state-citizen social contract and to encourage pro-poor equitable development.

Led by Chief Executive Officer Professor Mick Moore (Institute of Development Studies) and Research Directors Wilson Prichard (University of Toronto/IDS) and Odd-Helge Fjeldstad (Chr. Michelsen Institute) the consortium is a partnership between IDS, CERDI, the Institute of Security Studies South Africa and the Chr. Michelsen Institute Bergen.

The ICTD is also associated with a wide range of organisations:

For more information on the ICTD visit the ICTD website) or contact the Programme Manager Adam Randon

Recent work

Upcoming Event

Roundtable: The UN Framework Tax Convention

Following last year’s historic vote supporting the establishment of a new UN Framework Tax Convention, a UN Ad Hoc Group has now been convened and a zero draft terms of reference (TOR) for a future UN Framework Tax Convention has been published. An amended version of the TOR is set to be...

12 July 2024

Opinion

Three myths on smuggling and taxes

Few topics attract as many myths and misconceptions as smuggling. As an activity that is more frequently encountered through tabloids and crime dramas than academic research, public perceptions are often dramatised and outdated. At the same time, how we think about smuggling influences how we...

13 June 2024

Working Paper

The Price of Simplicity: Skewed and Regressive Taxation in Accra’s Informal Sector

ICTD Working Paper 195

The paper finds that the majority of informal sector operators of a 2,700 sample of informal enterprises in the Accra metropolitan area pay a range of taxes and fees, which together amount to a significant burden, especially for low earners.

13 June 2024

Publication

The Politics of Passage: Roadblocks, Taxation and Control in Conflict

DIIS Working Paper Series Roadblocks and Revenues #01

From Afghanistan and Yemen and from Mali to Somalia, checkpoints are central to dynamics of armed conflict, funding insurgents, driving violence and shaping governance by various types of armed actors, state and non-state alike. Nonetheless, checkpoints and roadblocks are often overlooked in...

Peer Schouten & 4 others

10 June 2024

Working Paper

Pathways Into the Tax Net: Better Ways to Register African Taxpayers

ICTD African Tax Administration Paper 34

Based on recent experience in a range of African countries, we list some taxpayer registration practices that should be abandoned or used sparingly, and some that should be used more widely, to better target registration on those businesses and individuals who should be paying tax.

24 May 2024