Data, tax policy making and the SDGs

The importance of data for tax policy making cannot be overemphasized. Data is crucial to inform tax policy choices, help better understand the impact they have on societies, and assist countries in getting closer to achieving Sustainable Development Goals. It is impossible to assess country’s progress towards reducing inequality without data on wealth and income composition, and information on tax distribution between genders is crucial for understanding the progress towards gender equality.

While data is a powerful tool that can allow developing countries to make independent and well-informed tax policy choices, however, taking full advantage of using data for designing tax policies and ensuring their alignment with SDGs is not always straightforward. Often the data required is unavailable, inefficient, or of poor quality[1], which complicates evidence-based tax policy making.

Together with partners, UNDP is hosting a discussion on data, tax policy making and the SDGs, where representatives of developing countries as well as development institutions will discuss their views and experiences related to use of data for tax policy making and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. In particular, the discussion will be focused on practical aspects of managing tax data in developing countries for evidence-based tax policy making and the role international cooperation can play in enabling data-driven tax policies.

Key audiences are tax policy makers and tax administrations operating in developing countries as well as representatives of civil society and international organizations engaged in tax policy work in development context.