Minimum Standards for Tax Expenditure Reporting: FfD4 Side Event in Seville

3 July 2025 |10.30-12.00 CET | Seville | Open to registered participants
Conferences, Fiscal | Tags: Development, Domestic Revenue Mobilization, Tax Expenditures

The Council on Economic Policies, the German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS), the Ministry of Finance of Brazil and the Ministry of Finance of Indonesia, co-hosted an event on the sidelines of the 4th International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4) in Seville.

The event introduced key features of tax expenditure reporting, derived from good international practices and showcased in the Global Tax Expenditure Transparency Index (GTETI). Based on country experiences from Brazil and Indonesia, discussants shared how such key features can be put into practice, and how good tax expenditure reporting contributes to the rationalisation of tax expenditures and strengthens domestic revenue mobilisation.

  • Governments worldwide use preferential tax treatments – called tax expenditures – to pursue different policy objectives. These measures cause huge immediate public revenue losses while their effectiveness is often in doubt. Against this background, many governments seek to rationalise the use of tax expenditures.

    All too often, however, reforming ineffective or harmful tax expenditures proves to be challenging. Lack of reliable information about the fiscal impact of tax expenditures and their effects, but also about the tax expenditure regimes of other countries, is one of the factors that play a critical role in this regard. Above all, such information should come from comprehensive and detailed government reports on the use of tax expenditures, but not all reports fulfill this purpose.

  • The outcome document of the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development has recently been endorsed by consensus. The document reflects the renewal of the global financing for development framework, and reaffirms the commitment to realize sustainable development, including effectively implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals. For the first time, a point on the oversight of tax expenditures is included:

    “We will promote budget transparency and accountability, including by implementing transparent data-driven procurement systems, enhancing oversight and ensuring strengthened, resourced, independent and professional supreme audit institutions and parliamentary oversight or equivalent bodies. We will also consider outcome-based financing mechanisms. We encourage enhanced oversight and management of tax expenditures, including through transparent tax expenditure reporting.”

    Read the full document HERE

  • The Global Tax Expenditures Transparency Index (GTETI)
    Agustin Redonda, Council on Economic Policies
    DOWNLOAD

    Good practices in Tax Expenditure Reporting:

    Brazil – Débora Freire, Ministry of Finance of Brazil
    DOWNLOAD

    Indonesia – Hadi Setiawan and Bagus Raharjo Hariputro, Ministry of Finance of Indonesia
    DOWNLOAD

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