TARIFF AND TAX REFORMS-DO WORLD BANK RECOMMENDATIONS INTEGRATE REVENUE AND PROTECTION OBJECTIVES?-

Abstract

This paper reports the results of a selective review intended to evaluate the extent to which an integrated “public finance” perspective, incorporating both protection and revenue concerns, has guided World Bank recommendations to member countries in the atea of tariff reform. Such a perspective suggests that tariff reforms intended to reduce protection must often be accompanied by measures to develop alternative revenue sources in broad based domestic indirect taxes. Conversely, reforms to the structure of protection will often need to take account of the effect of domestic indirect taxes that discriminate between domestic and imported goods.
The review suggests that this integrated perspective is often absent from the analysis underlying typical Bank recommendations. The following broad conclusions are indicated: (a) revenue concerns are not adequately addressed in the design of tariff proposals and may, in some cases, have contributed to policy reversal; (b) the protective effect of some domestic indirect taxes is often not incorporated into the design of reforms intended to reduce protection; and (c) while a uniform tariff is sometimes recommended as a goal of tariff reform, and may be seen as a logical culmination of the attempt to narrow the range of nominal tariffs, there appears to be little consensus on a desirable tariff structure.