Resource information
This is the tenth year that the paying
taxes indicator has been part of the World Bank Doing
Business project. The journey over the period of the study
has been an eventful and interesting one and the economic
backdrop continues to present a challenging environment for
governments as they consider their future fiscal policies.
Globalization, the march of technological change, changing
demographic patterns and the persistent challenges that
continue around climate change and the environment all come
together to generate a turbulent mix of issues which have a
significant impact on fiscal policy and the associated tax
systems. Against this backdrop, this year the Organization
for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has put
forward proposals for changing the international tax rules
to modernize them for today s globalized business and to
address concerns over base erosion and profit shifting
(BEPS). It is apparent that these proposals are already
changing the way some tax authorities apply existing rules,
leading to new and increased uncertainty for business, at
least in the short term. Alongside all of this however there
are two simple, mutually supportive objectives for
governments; to ensure that there are sufficient public
revenues for the future, to lay a foundation for sustained
improvements in productivity, while at the same time
incentivising investment and economic growth. This year the
authors have also focused more on the compliance aspects of
the information that authors collect through the study.
Stable tax systems and strong tax administrations are
important for businesses, helping them to operate in an
environment where the tax treatment of transactions is
predictable, and where governments operate transparently.
The paying taxes study provides an unrivalled global
database which supports an ongoing research program.
