Alternatives For Mineral Tax Reform

The entire Bolivian tax system is in need of thoroughgoing reform. A series of ad hoc adjustments in the system over the years, primarily made in response to recurring short-run fiscal emergencies, has yielded a patchwork overall tax structure that is not only chronically unable to satisfy narrow revenue goals but in many cases is inconsistent with, and often inimical to, achievement of commonly accepted nonrevenue objectives of tax policy. Such goals might include improved resource allocation longer-run economic stability, greater equity in income distribution and assurance of adequate national returns on the exploitation natural resource endowments (see Chapter Four). Although the precise weights attached to each objective are rarely specified, different societies will attach different weights to these and other legitimate goals of tax policy. Even so, it is important that tax reform not proceed in the abstract, but rather should be undertaken with explicit goals in mind and with a fairly clear notion of the extent to which tax reform may contribute to achievement of these goals.