REENGINEERING TAX SYSTEMS IN LOW-INCOME COUNTRIES: AN APPLICATION TO NEPAL

Reengineering or reforming a tax system in low-income countries such as Nepal Malawi or Bolivia is a more challenging, or a more interesting, task than undertaking a tax reform in a typical high income industrial country. The greatest challenge is to design a tax system that will appropriately fit both segments of these dual economies: the modern sector and the traditional-agricultural-informal sector. Furthermore, the participants in these two groups are constantly changing with people moving from the countryside to work in the urban areas: often moving eventually into the modern industrial sector. Similarly, some informal enterprises will grow to a size where they can be effectively taxed. Hence, the tax system needs to be able to accommodate the constant flow of tax payers who are entering at its lowest level, while providing high quality service to its modern sector clients. This book attempts to outline the issues associate with each of the main tax systems in LDCS and makes recommendation for implementation.