Tax Reforms After COVID-19 and Financial Crises

Abstract

Major financial crises (e.g. the 2008–2009 global economic crisis or the current global crisis caused by COVID-19) have a significant negative impact on tax revenues, leading to an increase in annual revenue shortages. Financial and economic crises also present significant challenges to ‘revenue administration’ in many countries. Many distinct, but interconnected, factors could cause tax revenue to decrease, in relation to GDP. The key set of policy reforms and interventions during (and after) financial crises include domestic and international tax policy reforms as well as diverse economic policies that help to recover GDP growth (and, hence, tax revenue). Tax policy reforms and amendments passed in response to the fiscal crises caused by the current COVID-19 in developing countries in Africa and Asia constitute both tax administration amendments to manage the crises, and tax policy reforms and amendments to manage the crises This report was prepared for the UK Government’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) and its partners in support of pro-poor programmes