IGC and CATA partner to strengthen tax administrations across the Commonwealth
Three-year MoU formalises collaboration on evidence-based research, capacity building and policy innovation.
London, 22 May 2025 – The International Growth Centre (IGC) and the Commonwealth Association of Tax Administrators (CATA) signed a three-year Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to collaborate on cutting-edge research and policy support aimed at strengthening tax administrations across Commonwealth member states. The agreement was formalised by Prof Jonathan Leape, Executive Director of IGC, and Dr. Abu Tariq Jamaluddin, President of CATA.
Under the terms of the MoU, IGC will help facilitate cross-country learning and evidence generation and conduct demand-led economic analysis to address priority knowledge gaps identified by CATA members. CATA will serve as the focal point for articulating government needs and facilitating outreach to national tax authorities. Both organisations will disseminate findings through co-branded workshops, seminars and open-access publications over the next three years.
Key details
- Scope of work: Facilitation of peer-to-peer learning and strengthening knowledge uptake of tax research. Occasionally, partnering on joint research projects to cover topics such as the digitalisation of tax systems, compliance enhancements, and tax enforcement.
- Governance: Project-specific collaboration agreements will define intellectual property, data protection, confidentiality and dissemination protocols.
- Review mechanism: Periodic review meetings will ensure responsiveness to evolving policy needs and facilitate adaptive learning.
This comes at a crucial moment as global aid flows decline and the importance of domestic resource mobilisation rises up the agenda.
“One of the things we strive to do at the IGC is to bring tax authorities together to enable peer-to-peer sharing. This association with CATA will be a very welcome development because of CATA’s already well-established mechanism for learning between members” said Prof Jonathan Leape, Executive Director of the IGC.
“This partnership allows us to bring rigorous economic analysis directly into the hands of Commonwealth tax authorities,” said Twivwe Siwale, Head of the Tax for Growth initiative at the IGC. “By working closely with CATA member states, we can deliver timely, high-quality research that informs more effective tax administration and supports inclusive growth.”
The IGC is a joint initiative of the London School of Economics and Political Science and the University of Oxford, funded primarily by the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office. It generates evidence-based analysis to support long-run inclusive growth in developing economies. CATA helps member countries develop effective tax administrations that promote sustainable development and good governance through conferences, training programmes, publications and knowledge-sharing.
Contact information:
IGC: [email protected]
CATA: [email protected]