ATLA

The African Tax Legislation Atlas (ATLA), is modeled after a successful project for the mining sector, the African Mining Legislation Atlas, is a digital platform comprising Africa’s tax laws, processed for cross continental comparisons on a topic-by-topic basis. The focus areas of the platform are Corporate Income Tax, Personal Income Tax, Value-Added Tax, and Excise Duty for all the 54 countries. The project is developed by the Domestic Resource Mobilization Working Group of the Global Forum on Law, Justice and Development, in collaboration with the LexisNexis Rule of Law Foundation.

The Working Group

Adequate Domestic Resource Mobilization (DRM) is a persistent challenge for many countries, especially in the global south. Central to adequate DRM is a tax base that is appropriately reflective of the economic activities of a country coupled with an efficient and transparent tax administration system. Legislation that is responsive to the local context while cognizant of the associated global legal frameworks is necessary for shaping effective fiscal behavior. The DRM Working Group has been created in response to these challenges.   

The Working Group aims to support countries in boosting their DRM through the enhancement of their tax efficiency, aligning regional and national tax policies and best practice with tax laws, and supporting governments and other stakeholders with tools that enhance the regulatory taxation ecosystem. The Working Group’s activities will enable countries to: (a) freely and equitably access tax legislation in a user friendly manner, (b) utilize a development-oriented lens and whole-systems approach to tax legislation reform as well as reframe the global discourse around legal instruments on taxation; and (d) promote the passing of  legislation derived from broad stakeholder participation, to create the right foundations for adequate DRM that catalyzes country-led sustainable development.