A Poverty-Focused Evaluation of Commodity Tax Options

The difficulties faced by many developing countries in raising revenue from direct taxes have forced them to rely heavily on indirect taxes to finance development interventions. The purpose of this paper is to show how to identify socially desirabl...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author:	Essama-Nssah, B.
Format:	Policy Research Working Paper
Language:	English
Published:	World Bank, Washington, DC 2012
Subjects:	ABSOLUTE VALUE ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS AGGREGATE DEMAND AGGREGATE POVERTY BENCHMARK BUDGET DEFICITS CAPITAL ACCUMULATION COMPETITIVE MARKETS CONSUMER PRICES CUMULATIVE DISTRIBUTION CUMULATIVE DISTRIBUTION FUNCTION DEBT DECOMPOSABLE POVERTY DECOMPOSABLE POVERTY MEASURES DENSITY FUNCTION DEVELOPING COUNTRIES DEVELOPMENT INTERVENTIONS DEVELOPMENT REPORT DEVELOPMENT STRATEGIES DISTRIBUTIONAL IMPACT ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES ECONOMIC GROWTH ECONOMIC INEQUALITY ECONOMIC POLICY ECONOMIC THEORY ECONOMICS ECONOMICS LETTERS EMPIRICAL SECTION EXPENDITURE CUTS FISCAL POLICY FIXED PRICES FOOD COMMODITIES FOOD EXPENDITURE FOOD ITEMS FOOD SUBSIDIES GDP GDP PER CAPITA GROWTH ELASTICITY HEADCOUNT POVERTY HEADCOUNT RATIO HEALTH EXPENDITURES HOUSEHOLD LEVEL HOUSEHOLD LEVEL DATA HOUSEHOLD SURVEY HUMAN CAPITAL HUMAN DEVELOPMENT IMPACT OF POLICIES IMPROVING GOVERNANCE INCOME INCOME GROWTH INCOME INEQUALITY INCOME POVERTY INCREASE POVERTY INDICATOR OF POVERTY INDIVIDUAL WELFARE INEQUALITY INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY INTERNATIONAL TRADE LIVESTOCK PRODUCTS LORENZ CURVE MARGINAL BENEFITS MARGINAL COST MARGINAL TAX MARGINAL UTILITY MICROECONOMIC ANALYSIS MONETARY POLICIES OPTIMIZATION POLICY CHANGE POLICY OBJECTIVE POLICY OPTIONS POLICY RESEARCH POLICY RESEARCH WORKING PAPER POLICY RESPONSE POOR POOR POLICY POVERTY ALLEVIATION POVERTY ERADICATION POVERTY FOCUS POVERTY GAP POVERTY IMPACT POVERTY INCIDENCE POVERTY INCREASE POVERTY INDICATOR POVERTY INDICES POVERTY LINE POVERTY MEASURE POVERTY MEASURES POVERTY OUTCOMES POVERTY PROFILE POVERTY REDUCTION POVERTY REDUCTION STRATEGY POVERTY REDUCTION STRATEGY PAPER POVERTY STATUS PRICE ELASTICITY PRICE ELASTICITY OF DEMAND PRO-POOR PRO-POOR GROWTH PRODUCTION EFFICIENCY PROGRESS PUBLIC EXPENDITURES PUBLIC FUNDS PUBLIC POLICY PUBLIC SECTOR PUBLIC SPENDING REAL INCOME RECREATION REDUCTION IN POVERTY RESPECT RURAL RURAL PHENOMENON RURAL POPULATION SOCIAL IMPACT SOCIAL POLICY SOCIAL SUPPORT SOCIAL WELFARE SQUARED POVERTY GAP STATISTICAL ANALYSIS TARGETING TAXATION TRADE LIBERALIZATION TRANSPORTATION URBAN CENTERS UTILITY FUNCTION UTILITY FUNCTIONS VALUE ADDED VALUE JUDGMENTS VEGETABLES VULNERABLE SEGMENTS WEALTH WELFARE IMPACT
Online Access:	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2007/06/7694658/poverty-focused-evaluation-commodity-tax-options http://hdl.handle.net/10986/7071

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Summary:	The difficulties faced by many developing countries in raising revenue from direct taxes have forced them to rely heavily on indirect taxes to finance development interventions. The purpose of this paper is to show how to identify socially desirable options for commodity taxation in the context of a poverty reduction strategy. Within the logic of social evaluation the author assesses tax options on the basis of value judgments underlying members of the additively separable class of poverty measures. The criterion hinges on both the pattern of consumption of each commodity and the price elasticity of the poverty measure used. An application of this methodology to data for Guinea shows that many components of food expenditure (particularly cereals, grains, and roots) would be good candidates for exemption from value-added tax. Even though expenditure on health and education is distributed in favor of the non-poor, their importance for human capital development argues for a program of targeted subsidies in a broader context of cost recovery.

A Poverty-Focused Evaluation of Commodity Tax Options

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