The sixth virtual meeting of the Community of Practice on Tax Expenditures will put a spotlight on the benchmarking efforts from the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning of Rwanda and the Ministry of Finance of the Netherlands. The session will focus on the role of a well-established benchmark tax system in identifying, estimating, and reporting on tax expenditures (TEs). Within this context, it will also explore how developing and refining the benchmark is an ongoing process rather than a one-time exercise, as well as the implications that changes to the benchmark have for other stages of the TE policy cycle.
Agenda | CoP Virtual Meeting, 30 September 2025, 13.00 CET
13.00 | Welcome and Introduction
13.05 | The role of the benchmark tax system in Rwanda, by Elysee Nyuzwenimana (Tax Policy Analyst, Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, Rwanda)
13.25 | The role of the benchmark tax system in the Netherlands, by Matthijs van Tiggelen (Policy Advisor at the Tax Policy and Analysis Unit (TPAU), Ministry of Finance, the Netherlands)
13.45 | Discussion
14.25 | Closing
Building on the momentum and vast interest generated by the Regional Workshops on Tax Expenditures, ATI, CEP and IDOS have initiated a Community of Practice (CoP) on TEs. The objective of the Community of Practice (CoP) is to provide all attendees from ATI partner countries and other interested parties with a platform to continue discussions regarding TE estimation, evaluation, reporting, and reform. In doing so, the CoP aspires to leverage the collective expertise of its members to enhance TE governance across finance ministries, revenue administrations, parliaments, and beyond.
The first meeting, held in October 2024, provided a high-level overview of tax expenditures governance, featuring two presentations from S. Tunny Cooper (Liberia Revenue Authority) and Pande Putu Oka Kusumawardani (Ministry of Finance of Indonesia). The second session, organized in December 2024, discussed TE reporting and transparency, with a presentation by Alban Romaric Alladaye (Ministry of Economy and Finance of Benin) and the launch of the newest version of the GTETI (1.1) by Lucas Millan-Narotzky (CEP). The third meeting, convened in February 2025 had TE evaluation in focus with presentations by Gerard McGuinness and Cillian O’Neill (Department of Finance of Ireland) and Tantely Ravelomanana (Ministry of Economy and Finance of Madagascar). The fourth session held in April welcomed Lucas W. Davis (Research Associate, University of California, Berkeley, USA) and Juan Carlos Brenes Brenes (Director General de Hacienda, Ministry of Finance of Costa Rica), who delved into the impact of tax expenditures on the environment and the implications for climate change. The fifth meeting held in May, ahead of the Fourth Financing for Development conference (FfD4), presented Brazil’s approach to tax expenditure reporting and reform and provided lessons from ODI Global and TaxDev in developing countries.
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