Reuven Avi-Yonah and Yoram Margalioth, Taxation in Developing Countries: Some Recent Support and Challenges to the Conventional View (unpublished paper, 2006).
Abstract: The general advice of international institutions such as the IMF and the World Bank given to developing countries over the past few decades has been to replace trade taxes with domestic consumption taxes, particularly value-added tax (VAT) and to maintain relatively high corporate income tax rates. This paper reviews recent literature that supports and challenges this conventional view.
Richard M. Bird and Eric M. Zolt, "Tax Policy in an Era of Rising Inequality: Redistribution via Taxation: The Limited Role of the Personal Income Tax in Developing Countries," 52 UCLA Law Review 1627-1695 (2005). (large: 4.5 meg).
Abstract: Inequality has increased in recent years in both developed and developing countries. Tax experts, like others, have focused on how taxes may reduce this growing inequality of income and wealth. This Article examines whether it makes sense for developing countries to rely on personal income taxes to redistribute income. We think not. This Article begins with some initial reflections on the redistributive role of the tax system. It then considers the relative success of developed and developing countries in using tax systems to redistribute income. Finally, the Article examines some alternatives in reforming the personal income tax, as well as options available to developing countries in designing and implementing more progressive fiscal systems.
Abdel Hamid Bouab, "Financing for Development, the Monterrey Consensus: Achievements and Prospects," 26 Michigan Journal of International Law 359-369 (2004).
Abstract: The International Conference on Financing for Development, held in Monterrey, Mexico, in March 2002, marked the beginning of a new international approach to dealing with issues of development finance. Under the umbrella of the United Nations, all parties involved in the financing for development process contributed to creating a policy framework, the Monterrey Consensus of the International Conference on Financing for Development, to guide their respective future efforts to deal with issues of financing development at the national, regional, international, and systemic levels. This paper presents a summary of the major recommendations of the Monterrey Conference.
Neil Brooks & Thaddeus Hwong, The Social Benefits and Economic Costs of Taxation: A Comparison of Highand Low-Tax Countries (2006).
Abstract: Tax cuts are disastrous for the well-being of a nation's citizens. Findings from this study show that high-tax countries have been more successful in achieving their social objectives than low-tax countries. Interestingly, they have done so with no economic penalty.
Christian Aid, The Shirts off their Backs: How tax policies fleece the poor (2005).
Abstract:The debate about how poor countries fund their escape from poverty has hitherto focused mainly on calls for debt cancellation and increases in aid. This briefing focuses on the importance of taxation in poor countries as another and vital piece in the puzzle. New research from a global network of economists --- the Tax Justice Network --- points firmly towards the importance of taxation as a means of raising money to fund poverty eradication. But it also throws into sharp relief capitalism's 'Mr Hyde' persona, which undermines both the global economy and the taxing capability of poorer countries by dragging billions of untaxed money offshore.
Lory Nguyen, "Vietnam's 2005 Accession Bid to the WTO: The Harmful Effects Facing Less Developed Countries," 6 Journal of Law & Social Challenges 131-150 (2004).
Abstract: Vietnam is adopting economic, political, and legal reforms to ensure the WTO approves its bid for membership. Vietnam and other less developed countries jump over numerous hoops to gain access to the WTO's current membership of 144 states. The tempting lure of an increased gross domestic production through membership in the WTO prevents Vietnam from recognizing other inherent harms membership will bring to its struggling economy. Trade with developed nations will potentially destroy Vietnam's diversity of agriculture as it shifts to a cash-crop export country. Vietnam and other countries that are far behind in technology and intellectual property areas are often greatly disadvantaged during negotiations setting international standards for IP protection.
Jinyan Li, "Development and Tax Policy: Case Study of China" (unpublished paper, 2006).
Abstract: This paper examines the role of tax policy in China’s economic, social and legal development. It concludes that tax policy has played an important, but somewhat mixed, role in China’s economic development. Tax policy has not been effective in enhancing social development in terms of redistributing social income or encouraging socially-desirably activities. The relationship between legal development and tax policy is perhaps not as obvious. In China’s case, however, a case can be made that tax policy has had a positive impact on the development of a system of rule-by-law.
Kenneth L. Sokoloff & Eric M. Zolt, Inequality and Taxation: Evidence from the Americas of How Inequality May Influence Tax Institutions, 59 Tax L. Rev. 167 (2006).
Abstract: In this Article we have begun to explore how the extreme inequality that came to characterize nearly all Latin American countries during their colonial periods may influence how their tax institutions evolved. We seek to understand why the tax structures of Latin American countries are so distinctive today, even relative to other developing countries with roughly similar per capita incomes, and why their national governments historically have been so dominant and their local governments stunted.
