Source: Asia Development Bank
Personal income taxes remain weak in the developing countries of the region. Several factors have contributed to this weakness, including a rapidly changing economic environment. Traditional approaches to taxation, focused mainly on corporate tax incentives to attract foreign direct investment and layers of sometimes overlapping and poorly structured sales and international trade taxes, have failed to capture growing sources of personal income or address the gaps in the distribution of income and wealth.
The weaknesses in tax policy are compounded by shortcomings in tax and customs administration. Labor forces characterized by widespread informality, a lack of a culture of tax compliance, and weak governance structures undermine the collection of revenues, especially of the personal income tax. Even when they can identify required reforms, tax and customs administrations often lack the political independence to implement them.
Reform of the region’s personal income taxes presents an opportunity to bolster revenues and help address income and wealth inequality. A well-structured personal income tax system with broad bases and moderate and internationally competitive rates can facilitate higher growth and much-needed revenue to fund government spending. A progressive personal income tax (i.e., where the average tax rate rises with higher income) can contribute to the reduction of income and wealth inequality, especially when supported by adequate spending on human capacity development.
The region has made significant, though widely varying efforts, to improve tax and customs administrations in recent years, including through institutional reorganization of tax administrations on a functional basis, better coordination between tax and customs administrations, and the creation of large taxpayer units. Countries in the region have focused on automating their systems, strengthening training and staff quality, and improving legal systems that underpin tax enforcement.
In the region, improvements in the structure and administration of the personal income tax have facilitated sensible reforms of corporate income and broad-based sales taxes while allowing continued reduction of reliance on international trade taxes. In recent decades in the Asia and Pacific region, there has been some increase in reliance on personal income taxes, but the growth has been uneven and insufficient (Figure 1). In the region as a whole but excluding certain key countries, fiscal policies have contributed to some narrowing of income and wealth gaps (Figure 2).
Figure 1: Tax Revenue by Source Comparison 2017-2021 to 2002-2006
Figure 2: Change in Market Gini Coefficients over Time in the Asia and Pacific Subregions