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Tax capacity in fragile states: Trends, challenges, and policy options

Policy brief Tax and State Fragility initiative

This brief summarises research on tax revenue trends and key challenges in mobilising tax revenue in fragile states and explores avenues for policy reform.

  • Achieving greater revenue mobilisation can be an effective strategy for countries to break out of fragility.
  • Evidence suggests that tax revenue has a larger impact on fragility dynamics than non-tax revenue.
  • This brief summarises research on tax revenue trends and key challenges in mobilising tax revenue in fragile states and explores avenues for policy reform.
  • Given the complexity of raising tax capacity in fragile settings, there is no one-size-fits-all solution but localised approaches that combine administrative and tax policy reform with appropriate sequencing can result in positive, sustainable results.