The policy dialogue was held on 2nd December 2022 at Lemigo Hotel and was attended by about 40 participants representing public and private institutions, CSOs/NGOs, academia and independent researchers. The topic was Rwanda’s Medium Term Revenue Strategy. Here below are two main pints discussed.

MTRS : where is Rwanda going ?

This presentation will aim to describe and explain the medium-term revenue strategy approved by GoR earlier in 2022. It will start from Rwanda’s economic ambitions and the current fiscal context to explain the motivation for raising more revenue. The MTRS itself is founded on four principles, which will be explained – revenue collection is not an ultimate objective, but broader socioeconomic outcomes are. There are several reforms proposed and agreed upon in principle under the MTRS, and the presentation will outline the rationale for those plans. One which has already been implemented will be the key topic of discussion in the next presentation.
The presenters look forward to engagement from the attendees on the objectives of the MTRS, the consultation process, perceptions of the tax system today and what they envisage a good tax system of the future looks like.

Reforming taxes on workers

This presentation will focus first on a reform to taxes on workers that was legislated in October 2022. It will elaborate on the policy-making considerations – from the revenue needs of government to the equity perspective and broader messages sent out by the tax system. From the technical perspective, the presenters will show how administrative data has been converted into usable information for policymakers, and what trade-offs were chosen by government as a result.

The second part of this presentation will engage a broader group of stakeholders on how the formal labour market monitoring by the tax policy team informed the response to Covid-19 and can be useful for other policymakers too. For example, the tax policy team monitors salary growth and job creation at the sector level to understand the long-term trends as well as the response to Covid-19 and other shocks.

Presentation

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