About
Tax research for development – lessons from Rwanda

This project analyses administrative tax data in Rwanda to provide knowledge for better policymaking to mobilize public revenue for inclusive economic development.

The project conducts new, policy-relevant research based on the empirical analysis of administrative tax data in partnership with the Rwanda Revenue Authority (RRA). The research outputs of the programme are intended to assist policymakers as they develop and implement policy tools to improve development prospects in their country. An important additional goal of the project is to develop institutional and individual capacity to use administrative data for ongoing economic research and policy calibration.

Research topics under the collaboration include analysing the difference between the potential and actual revenue collection, examining firm behaviour and finding ways to improve tax collection. Other planned activities include providing technical training for the revenue authority staff. Through these engagements and subsequent research outputs, the project aims to guide policy debates based on actual data while building local research capacity in the country.

This co-operation is a subcomponent of the UNU-WIDER project Tax research for development. In Rwanda, the co-operation with RRA also covers tax-benefit microsimulation work done under the SOUTHMOD project. Both projects are part of UNU-WIDER's programme on Domestic Revenue Mobilization (DRM), which is financed by the Norwegian development co-operation agency Norad.

Key questions

• How much revenue is lost due to non-compliance?
• What can be done to improve taxpayer compliance and revenue collection?