5.2.0 This section of
the document considers the separate legal regimes surrounding the following three sources
of government revenue :
Taxes
Tariffs & Duties
Payments from other sources
While it is acknowledged that government borrowing also represents an
additional and important source of revenue it is nevertheless deliberately omitted from
this section of the paper and will be dealt with independently in Section 5.5 on
"Debt Management".
5.2.1 Taxes - Sources of Law
 | What type of taxes does the state impose (For example, income, sales, VAT)? |
| What is the governments tax policy (Revenue generating only - or are there
distributional objectives, or macroeconomic objectives)? |
| Does the tax law actually implement the tax Policy? |
| Are all sources of tax law consistent with each other? |
| Which source of law in fact plays the most important role in the implementation of the
tax law? |
| Are all the sources of tax law publicly available (How easily can the public obtain this
information)? |
| Are there weaknesses in the law that leave it vulnerable to legal challenge (Is the law
consistent with all applicable constitutional provisions)? |
| Are there loopholes in the law that allow people to easily avoid paying taxes? If so do
these loopholes undermine the policy objectives of the government? |
| Are the laws stable - has the government made any substantial changes in the tax law in
the past 5 years? |
| What is the basis for tax collection : Self Reporting - Government Assessment - or a
mixture of Self Reporting and Government Assessment? How effective is the system of tax
collection ? |
| How effective is the Government in enforcing the law ? |
| If the system is Self Reporting, how does the government evaluate the reports submitted
to it ? |
| Is there a forum in which affected parties can challenge the governments assessment of
their tax liabilities ? |
| Do lower tiers of government (i.e. provincial and local governments) have taxing powers
- if so, what are these powers ? |
| How effective are the tax operations of these lower tiers of government ? |
| What mechanisms are there for co-ordinating the taxing powers of the different tiers of
government? |
| How are tax revenues shared between the different levels of government? |
| How effective is the government in enforcing the tax law? |
| To what extent are the problems in the Tax Law due to a lack of capacity in the
implementing authority/authorities? |
| When are goods and services subject to tariffs and duties - (i.e.) on imports, on
exports? Are there any exemptions? |
| What is the government’s policy objective? Is it exclusively revenue raising or is
there also a trade or economic policy objective? Are all aspects of the law consistent
with this overall policy? |
| Is the tariff law consistent with the state’s international commitments? |
| Which source of law in fact plays the most important role in the implementation of the
tariff and duties legal regime? |
| Is the law publicly available? How easily can interested parties obtain information on
the law and its implementation? |
| How stable is the law - has the government made significant changes to this law in the
last 5 years? |
| Can lower tiers of government impose tariffs and duties - if so, on what categories of
goods and services? |
| What mechanisms exist for co-ordinating the tariff and duties operations of the central
government and the lower tier of government? |
| Who has the ultimate decision making authority in the implementation of this law? |
| Is there a forum in which affected parties can challenge decisions made by the tariff
and duty decision making authority? |
| How effective is implementation of the law? |
| To what extent are the problems in the legal regime applicable to tariffs and duties due
to a lack of capacity in the implementing authority/authorities? |
| What other sources of revenue does the government have - user fees, revenue from state
owned enterprises, government investments? |
| What is the source of the legal authority for the government obtaining these revenues? |
| Do these sources of revenue overlap with the tax or tariff regime so that some
contributors are making multiple contributions from the same activity to the state? |
| Which source of law in fact plays the most important role in the implementation of the
legal regimes applicable to these sources? |
| How stable is the law applicable to these sources of revenue? Have there been
significant changes in these laws in the last 5 years? |
| Are the laws applicable to these sources of funds publicly available? How easily can
interested parties obtain information on these laws? |
| Who is the primary decision maker in relation to each of these sources of revenues? |
| How effectively does the government collect these additional sources of revenue? |
| What problems (if any) exist in the implementation of the legal regimes applicable to
these sources of revenue? To what extent are these problems caused by a deficiency in the
implementing authority's/authorities’ capacity to implement these legal regimes? |
| Are all sources of potential revenue being tapped? If not, has a policy
decision been taken to avoid tapping certain sources? |
| Are the legal regimes for all the different sources of revenue mutually
consistent? |
| Is there a single body responsible for co-ordinating the collection of
all government revenues? If not, are there co-ordinating mechanisms in place to ensure
that there is adequate communication between all the relevant decision makers? |
| Does the state have a means for evaluating and learning from its
experience in revenue collection? Does it have a mechanism for obtaining information about
other countries’ experience with their legal infrastructure applicable to revenue
raising? |
| What mechanisms exist through which the state might consult with
interested non-governmental stakeholders regarding the legal infrastructure for government
revenues? |
| Are the laws applicable to government revenues written in a language that
is easily understandable? |
| What role does the Legislature play in the raising of revenue from these
other sources? |
