英文_国际货币基金组织_西非经货联盟国内收入动员_21页_1mb

IMF Selected Issues Paper: Domestic Revenue Mobilization in WAEMU

Key Points Summary:

1. Context and Importance:
   Domestic Revenue Mobilization (DRM) is crucial for funding economic development, ensuring debt sustainability, and addressing challenges like rising interest rates, high security spending, and declining foreign aid in WAEMU. The 20% tax-to-GDP floor set by the Convergence Pact remains largely unmet.

2. Current Situation & Challenges:

   • While DRM has improved over two decades, gaps persist due to narrow tax bases, weak enforcement, high informality, and tax evasion.
   • Significant disparities exist between WAEMU countries, with some (e.g., Senegal, Mali) showing stronger progress than others.
   • The region lags behind comparable regional and high-income countries in revenue mobilization.

3. Revenue Sources & Tax Structures:

   • Reliance is shifting from trade taxes to income/consumption taxes, supported by regional harmonization efforts.
   • Key challenges include generous tax exemptions, limited tax enforcement capacity, and inefficiencies in tax systems.

4. Tax Potential & Gaps:

   • A stochastic frontier model reveals that countries like Niger and Togo have narrowed tax gaps but still fall short of potential.
   • Benin and Burkina Faso face widening inefficiencies, while Guinea-Bissau has limited scope for growth.

5. Progress & Reforms:

   • Advances include reforms targeting property taxes, simplification of tax codes, and digitalization of revenue systems.
   • The 2024 DRM Action Plan focuses on medium-term strategies and coordination, though implementation faces political and institutional constraints.

6. Policy Recommendations:

   • Regional Level: Strengthen tax harmonization, enhance surveillance, and promote knowledge sharing.
   • National Level: Simplify tax systems, broaden tax bases, improve compliance, and combat corruption.

Conclusion:
Achieving sustained revenue mobilization in WAEMU requires addressing structural challenges through coordinated reforms, enhanced governance, and leveraging regional cooperation.