Dr. Sarah Ssewanyana, the Executive Director of the Economic Policy Research Centre (EPRC), has sounded a rallying call for continued integration of technology in tax systems if least developed countries are to up their revenues.
Ssewanyana, who was speaking to virtual meeting on the Road to the 5th UN Conference on the Least Developed Countries (LDC5), said some countries like Uganda “now have a lot of use of technologies. However, we need to see how we can continue integrating technologies
Recovery from COVID-19 by leveraging scarce resources.
The meeting was organized by the Southern Voice, a network of more than 50 think tanks from Asia, Latin America and Africa.
Uganda is already implementing digital stamps, and it has also procured an agency to enable it carry out rental mapping for tax purposes.
Ssewanyana said “LDCs need to look at how best to strengthen tax systems that support and improve inclusivity”. This would mean that entities and individual pay their fair share of tax and consequently ensuring the developing countries are able to raise more resources.
“We need to ensure transparency is truly realized,” she said. “We need to be able to support the measuring and monitoring of the progress of our tax systems.”
Poor countries need resources more than ever especially after being battered by the coronavirus pandemic. Measures to mitigate the virus saw their economies shut and revenues consequently fell. Many went on a borrowing spree to bridge the revenue gaps. This raised serious questions on their ability to pay back with their economies not expected to return to normalcy any time soon.
Ratnakar Adhikari, the executive director of the Enhanced Integrated Framework (EIF), said there was “need to repurpose existing resources provided to LDCs to adapt to the crisis situation.”
“Leverage existing resources and partnerships to help LDCs develop their own resources, and mobilize Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and innovative financing,” he said.
Jose Antonio Ocampo, the Chair of the United Nations Committee for Development Policy, said the corona crisis came when LDCs were not on the road to meeting the Sustainable Development Goals.
He said some of the LDCs are already in debt distress and more than 14 countries are in high-risk debt situation.
Angel Gurría, the secretary General of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), called for “a bold solution to the debt problem in developing countries to avoid liquidity challenges”.