Financing development: Tax them and they will grow

UK Only Article: 
standard article

Issue: 

The new Conservatism

Fly Title: 

Financing development

Rubric: 

Poor countries need to get better at raising tax, and multinational firms need to get better at paying it

Main image: 

Protesting against low taxes

Protesting against low taxes

SOMALIA is not only one of the world’s poorest and least developed countries, it is also one of the most dangerous for tax collectors. By one reckoning a fifth of tax collectors in the capital, Mogadishu, were killed in 2012-14. Armed guards now accompany the remainder on their rounds. That may be an extreme case, but most poor countries struggle to raise much revenue, and therefore to pay for basic infrastructure and services.
Such difficulties will be one of the main topics of discussion at a United Nations conference in mid-July in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, which will debate ways to finance developing countries’ most urgent needs. It is a precursor to two more big powwows this year that hope to set the …<div class="og_rss_groups"></div>
Source: The Economy