Tax Audit Seminar
Tax audits are widely used in
developing countries to support
self-assessment by taxpayers of
income and other entries in their
tax returns. Audits are also
important for achieving fairness
in taxation among both individual
and corporate taxpayers.
However, globalization of
economic activities has made business
transactions more complicated, so tax authorities
need to develop new measures to get useful
information on entities and their full business
transactions.
ADBI's fifth Tax Administration Seminar
—organized in collaboration with the Malaysian
Tax Academy and the governments of Japan,
Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand—aimed to
meet this need by introducing more advanced tools
and methods pertaining to tax audits and
examinations. The seminar was held at the
Malaysian Tax Academy on 24–26 June 2008.
Some instruments and measures for enhancing
audits suggested during the seminar were:
- more effective legal frameworks (including
taxpayers' record-keeping obligations, authority
to access books and records, sound management
of third-party information, and sanctions for noncompliance);
- sound management of information systems for
data collection, records, and analysis; and
- use of risk management principles to select cases
for auditing.
Read an executive summary of the seminar's proceedings.
Organic Agriculture: Market-based Development Strategy for Achieving the Millennium Development Goals |
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ADBI Senior Research Fellow Sununtar Setboonsarng
presented the results of her work at the 16th International
Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements World
Organic Congress on 16–20 June 2008 in Modena, Italy.
Presenting cross-country empirical evidence, she showed
how organic farming engages the poor, providing
environmental services while pulling them out of poverty.
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Organic food and fiber contribute to:
Income and food security (Millennium Development
Goal [MDG] 1) by allowing higher profit and more
diversified food systems for home consumption. Improved
income generally leads to better education (MDG 2).
Health (MDG 4, 5, 6) by reducing pesticide exposures
and improving dietary quality.
Environment and mitigating climate change (MDG 7) by restoring soil fertility and biodiversity, purifying water,
sequestering carbon in the soil, and reducing fossil fuel use.
Global partnerships for development (MDG 8).
Effectively, international trade of organics is a marketbased
strategy for consumers to transfer payment for environmental services to the poor, who have comparative
advantage in producing organics.
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A myth, a caution, and a recommendation:
Does organic mean lower yield? Lower yields may occur
in fertile irrigated land, but evidence shows that organic
farming increases yield in marginal and degraded land,
where many of the poor reside.
Promotion of genetically modified organisms must be
done with extreme caution because their long-term impacts
on health and the environment are unclear. Corporations'
intellectual property rights issues must also be resolved.
The public sector could assist in harmonizing standards,
developing carbon credit schemes, and endorsing organics
as “environmental goods” under the World Trade
Organization to further reduce poverty and mitigate
climate change.
For related reading, see ADBI Discussion Papers 49, 54, 101, 106, and
107 View Sununtar
Setboonsarng's presentation.
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