Governments worldwide use preferential tax treatments – called tax expenditures – to pursue different policy objectives. These measures cause huge immediate public revenue losses while their effectiveness is often in doubt. Against this background, many governments seek to rationalise the use of tax expenditures.
All too often, however, reforming ineffective or harmful tax expenditures proves to be challenging. Lack of reliable information about the fiscal impact of tax expenditures and their effects, but also about the tax expenditure regimes of other countries, is one of the factors that play a critical role in this regard. Above all, such information should come from comprehensive and detailed government reports on the use of tax expenditures, but not all reports fulfil this purpose.
The side event introduces key features of tax expenditure reporting, derived from good international practices and showcased in the Global Tax Expenditure Transparency Index (GTETI). Based on two successful country experiences (Brazil and Indonesia), it discusses how such key features can be put into practice, and how good tax expenditure reporting contributes to the rationalisation of tax expenditures and strengthens domestic revenue mobilisation.
AGENDA
- 10:30 – 10:40
Introduction
Christian von Haldenwang, German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS) - 10:40 – 11:00
Presentation of the Global Tax Expenditures Transparency Index (GTETI)
Agustin Redonda, Council on Economic Policies (CEP) - 11:00 – 11:40
Good practices in Tax Expenditure Reporting: Indonesia and Brazil
Débora Freire, Ministry of Finance, Brazil
Hadi Setiawan and Bagus Raharjo Hariputro, Ministry of Finance, Indonesia - 11:40 – 11:55
Q&A. “Improving tax expenditure reporting to enhance policy making in the field”
Audience and Speakers - 11:55 – 12:00
Closing
Information and contact: Christian von Haldenwang, IDOS