Vanessa van den Boogaard's presentation from ATAF's 4th High Level Policy Dialogue

1. International Centre for Tax and Development
www.ictd.ac
International Centre for Tax and Development
www.ictd.ac
Dr Vanessa van den Boogaard
Tax, gender, and Covid-19
Research Fellow, International Centre for Tax and Development
27 August 2020

2. International Centre for Tax and Development
www.ictd.ac
International Centre for Tax and Development
www.ictd.ac
Relief is not
reaching women.

3. International Centre for Tax and Development
www.ictd.ac
Women do not directly pay many taxes
Low-income countries OECD countries

4. International Centre for Tax and Development
www.ictd.ac
Small and informal taxes and fees are more
important

5. International Centre for Tax and Development
www.ictd.ac
Relief on local taxes and fees has not been as
forthcoming
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%
Sierra Leone (provinces)
Sierra Leone (Freetown)
Rwanda (provinces)
Rwanda (Kigali)
Relief on local taxes and fees
(June 2020)
Delayed payment Waived payment
Reduced payment
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%
Sierra Leone (provinces)
Sierra Leone (Freetown)
Rwanda (provinces)
Rwanda (Kigali)
Relief on central taxes
(June 2020)
Delayed payment Waived payment
Reduced payment

6. International Centre for Tax and Development
www.ictd.ac
Social protection programmes also face
challenges in reaching women
Access to relief may be affected by requirements for:
 Literacy
 Online registration
 Mobile phone ownership
 Ownership of a mobile money account
 Ownership of a bank account
 National identification

7. International Centre for Tax and Development
www.ictd.ac
International Centre for Tax and Development
www.ictd.ac
Make immediate
relief more
accessible.

8. International Centre for Tax and Development
www.ictd.ac
Reach and accessibility of tax reliefs and social
protection programmes
 Focus on reliefs that are more likely to affect women and
informal sector workers
 Eliminate barriers to access
 Provide support targeted to women to access and navigate
crisis relief programmes

9. International Centre for Tax and Development
www.ictd.ac
International Centre for Tax and Development
www.ictd.ac
Focus on reforms
to support gender
equity.

10. International Centre for Tax and Development
www.ictd.ac
Tax and gender equity
 Hire more women within revenue administrations and on the
frontlines of tax collection
 Focus on social spending on key public goods and services to
reduce direct taxpayer spending on small and informal taxes
and fees

11. International Centre for Tax and Development
www.ictd.ac
International Centre for Tax and Development
www.ictd.ac
Balance revenue
needs with equity
concerns.

12. International Centre for Tax and Development
www.ictd.ac
Expanding revenue more equitably
 Think twice before attempting a broad expansion of taxation of
the informal sector
 Focus on broadening the base of high-net worth individuals and
large tax-evading firms in the informal sector
 Focus on taxing the rich, including those that can afford to pay
and those that did well during the crisis

13. International Centre for Tax and Development
www.ictd.ac
International Centre for Tax and Development
www.ictd.ac
Dr Vanessa van den Boogaard
Research Fellow
v.vandenboogaard@utoronto.ca
@Vvandenboogaard