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Making
Tax Work: A framework
for enhancing tax
transparency webinar
March
10, 2021
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Through
a virtual seminar participated
in by tax experts from
different international and
country-level institutions, we
presented the preliminary work
of Professors Richard Murphy
and Andrew Baker of the
University of Sheffield on Making Tax
Work: A framework for
enhancing tax transparency
(draft version).
During their presentation, the
authors detailed a range of
issues surrounding tax
reporting and information
standards, and propose a
systematic appraisal of tax
systems to enable and enhance
revenue transparency. The
document sets an analytical
framework for assessing
domestic tax transparency in
countries around the world.
The framework for enhancing
tax transparency will assist
the GIFT
network in
calling for a comprehensive
discussion and in producing
draft global principles on
domestic tax transparency. The
framework aims to guide
governments in their efforts
to disclose information on the
revenue side of the fiscal
equation, thereby facilitating
civil society’s strong
participation in informed
public debates on tax reform.
The final version of the
document, expected to be
published in May 2021, will
incorporate the main feedback
provided by seminar
participants, and will include
the first version of the tax
transparency principles in its
conclusion. The GIFT network
will then discuss the
framework and principles at
its next General Stewards
Meeting in the summer of
2021.
The minutes of the said
meeting can be downloaded here,
while the video recording of
the session can be streamed
via this link.
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Going
more DIGITAL & SOCIAL:
Communications for
user-engagement
initiatives sessions
March
29, 2021
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As part
of
GIFT‘s work towards
advancing user-engagement
initiatives worldwide, through
the #DataRallyFromHome
and the #BetterBudget
Dataquest for Sustainable
Development, we hosted
two sessions that dived deeper
into practical communications
strategies, tools, and
platform-specific examples
that will guide countries in
setting up and implementing
fully virtual user-generated
content campaigns. We were
very honored to be joined by
our partners from Argentina,
Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa
Rica, Guanajuato (Mexico),
Indonesia, Mexico, Philippines
and South Africa in these
sessions held last March 29.
Access the presentation
materials in this link and
the video recording of the
session here.
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Public
participation strides
forward: Fiscal
Openness Accelerator
project updates
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As
we close the first
trimester of 2021,
our FOA countries
keep moving forward.
We
are excited to
announce that South
Africa’ s advisory
group (composed of
the National
Treasury, other
government agencies
and civil society
organizations
representatives) has
reached a final
recommendation and
decision to design
and implement a
pilot public
participation
mechanism that will
be mainstreamed in
in the Pre-Budget
Hearings of the
country’s national
budget cycle. The
collaborative
decision-making
process was
facilitated by the
GIFT and the
International
Budget Partnership
(IBP) through a
co-creation workshop
earlier in March and
a series of
brainstorming
meetings with the
members of the
Advisory Group.
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We
are also proud to share that
the advisory group of Benin
has endorsed the
implementation of their
public participation
mechanism through the
Bousprob tool, a mobile
application that aims to
provide access to current
and previously published key
budget documents and
provides citizens an
opportunity to monitor and
engage in the national
budget process at the
country level. Designed to
help achieve participatory
and inclusive governance
goals, this tool features a
budget calendar with
automatic alerts, a
comprehensive budget
document library, and the
budget news section.
In
the next months ahead, GIFT
and IBP look forward to more
closely engaging with all
FOA countries towards
building strong, sustainable
and impactful pilot public
participation mechanisms.
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Mexico
launches their first
combined
#DataRallyFromHome and
Dataquest for
Sustainable
Development
March
06, 2021
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To
commemorate the 2021
International Open Data
Day, Mexico’s Ministry
of Finance, in
partnership with the Center
for Economic and Budgetary
Research (CIEP),
the local office of the
United Nations Development
Program, Social
Tic, the German
Development Cooperation
Office (GIZ) and the GIFT
network, launched
their #BetterBudget
Dataquest for Sustainable
Development on March
6th.They presented an
innovative mix between a
data rally with several
phases and challenges, and a
Dataquest oriented to policy
research and innovative
policy responses to helping
achieve the SDG 2030 Agenda.
The recording of the
inauguration event with more
information on the
initiative (in Spanish) can
be accessed here.
In addition, a series of
topic specific mentorships
were offered by all the
above-mentioned
organizations. You can
stream the videos of the
said online mentorship
activities here.
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Costa
Rica’s MoF and
Innovaap launch
second edition of
Budget School
February
4, 2021
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The
General Directorate of
National Budget, and the
Public Innovation
Collaborative Laboratory
(Innovaap) and the Open
Government Unit in Costa
Rica has recently opened
the call for applications to
the second edition of their
Budget School, to be held in
virtual mode. Integrating a
user-engagement effort in
this initiative, the
culminating activity this
effort shall be the conduct
of #BetterBudgetDataquest
for Sustainable Development
to be held in July 2021.
Find out more information here.
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UN
Women, INTOSAI and IBP
host Advancing Women’s
Leadership in Public
Finance
March
17, 2021
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As
a virtual side event of the
annual gathering of the
United Nations Commission on
Status of Women, UN Women,
the INTOSAI Development
Initiative and the
International Budget
Partnership (IBP) hosted a
lively dialogue with civil
society, audit institutions,
and Ministries of Finance on
the barriers women confront
in public finance
institutions and the steps
that need to be taken to
enable greater gender parity
in leadership of these
institutions.
More than 350 people joined
the event that examined how
to advance women’s
leadership with the
long-term aim of making
public finance institutions
drivers of gender equitable
outcomes. Clearly, much more
remains to be done in terms
of promoting gender
equality, but this
discussion presents an
important step forward in
this effort.
More information on the
event can be found here,
while the video recording
can be accessed here.
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Integrity
Action webinar:
Sustaining the
Impact of Social
Accountability
Initiatives
March
09, 2021
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Integrity
Action hosted a webinar that
presented their findings on
the impact of social
accountability initiatives
last March 9. Driven by a
key question on how
citizen-centered
accountability systems can
be designed so that they
have the greatest chance of
being sustained, the report
is a result of a meticulous
research methodology that
included a literature scan
of over 200 empirical
studies, 25 semi-structured
interviews and an online
brainstorming session with
70 respondents. You can
watch the webinar to learn
in depth information on
their findings here.
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How
can external audits
promote budget
credibility?
Leveraging the role
of supreme audit
institutions
March
25, 2021
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Exploring
the important role of
external audits in ensuring
that the national budget is
credible, the International
Budget Partnership in
partnership with UNDESA’s
Division for Public
Institutions and Digital
Government hosted a rich
discussion of experiences
from a diverse panel
composed of high-level
officials from public audit
institutions of Indonesia,
Uganda, Georgia, the
Philippines, and Jamaica
last March 25. During the
event, the panelists
exchanged insights related
to the recent research
findings on the
understanding of how Supreme
Audit Institutions have
covered budget credibility
issues in their audits, with
the aim to address a gap in
public finance literature,
inform the development of
handbook on this topic, and
ultimately influence
positively the role of SAIs
to promote transparency and
accountability.
Watch the full webinar here.
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The
International Centre
for Tax and
Development hosts
Women in Tax: A
Conversation on
Research and Policy
in Africa
March
18, 2021
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In
celebration of
International Women’s Day
and alongside the
sixty-fifth session of the
UN Commission on the
Status of Women, the
International Centre for
Tax and Development (ICTD)
hosted a webinar on women
and taxation in Africa.
The event featured
distinguished tax
researchers and
practitioners who shared
their insights on issues
including the role of
women in shaping tax
policy and administration
at the national and
international levels, the
tax knowledge and
compliance of African
business women, the impact
of informal taxes on women
across the continent.
Find the video recording
of the event here.
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World
Development Report
2021: Data for
Better Lives
This
report by the World
Bank explores the
tremendous potential
of the changing data
landscape to improve
the lives of poor
people, while also
acknowledging its
potential to open back
doors that can harm
individuals,
businesses, and
societies. Read more here.
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Public-Sector
Productivity (Part
1) : Why Is It
Important and How
Can We Measure
It?
This
note by the World Bank
is the first of a
two-part series that
explores the
importance of
public-sector
productivity and its
determinants. It also
summarizes a review of
the literature on
different approaches
to measuring
public-sector
productivity. Download
it here.
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Time
to rethink
State-Owned
Enterprise (SOE)
performance
trade-offs
This
World Bank blog
explores issues
surrounding the
management and
performance of
State-Owned Enterprise
(SOEs) and how it may
be one of the most
important factors for
some economies to come
out of the COVID-19
crisis.
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Assessing
the impact of
fiscal
transparency on
FDI inflows
Authored
by faculty members of
the University of
Naples L’Orientale,
University of Naples
Parthenope and
University of
Basilicata in Italy,
this paper
analyzes the role of
fiscal transparency as
a determinant of
foreign direct
investment (FDI)
attractiveness and
proposes an empirical
test based on an
analysis of data from
72 countries in a
10-year time span. The
full paper is
published as part of
Socio-Economic
Planning Sciences
journal’s Volume 73.
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Upholding
commitments: How
supreme audit
institutions can
strengthen budget
credibility
through external
audits
What
are the roles of
external audit in
determining and
ensuring that public
budgets are
“credible”? Find out
answers in this IBP paper
that explores how
supreme audit
institutions approach
budget credibility
assessments,
challenges to
leveraging this work
of SAIs, and
opportunities for
strengthening budget
credibility through
audits.
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Giving
everyone a fair
shot
As
the COVID-19 pandemic
intensifies inequality
across the globe,
authors of this IMF
blog put
emphasis on breaking
the vicious circle of
inequality and
providing everyone
opportunities for
prosperity, through
improvements to access
to basic public
services and
strengthening
redistributive
policies.
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