Think WIDER Webinar - Harnessing big data and ICT to boost revenues
Channel: UNU-WIDER
Date: 23/11/2022

On 22 November 2022, our Think WIDER Webinar Series - New perspectives on domestic revenue mobilization continued with 'Harnessing big data and ICT to boost revenues'.

Countries in the Global South have increased their tax revenue in recent decades. Still, overall revenues have often remained too low to sustain the provision of critical public goods. How can developing countries improve their tax systems, increase compliance, and mitigate the potentially harmful effects of taxation on enterprise growth and job creation?

One way is by taking advantage of data to evaluate and plan policy. In recent years, also low-income African countries have started to make taxation-related data sets available. These data have enabled, and continue to enable, several new avenues of research to help improve policies.

This one-hour event shares the insights data has helped to reveal on e.g. tax audit efficiency, recovery of firms from COVID-19 pandemic, income distribution and on taxation of multinational corporations in Africa. The webinar is chaired by Professor Jukka Pirttilä, and the introduction to the topic is given by UNU-WIDER Research Fellow Amina Ebrahim. The presentation is followed by a panel discussion with Giulia Mascagni, Research Director at the International Centre for Taxation and Development, Allen Nassanga, the Assistant Commissioner for research and innovations at the Uganda Revenue Authority, and Timo Laukkanen, the director of the Strategy Realization Office in the Finnish Tax Administration.

More information on the event webpage: https://www.wider.unu.edu/event/harnessing-big-data-and-ict-boost-revenues