Project Summary

Project Publications

Project Team

The Andrew Young School of Policy Studies hosted thirteen government officials from the Republic of Sri Lanka during July-August 1999. The government officials were in Atlanta to participate in a tax policy analysis training program funded by USAID in order to improve tax policy analysis skills in the Ministry of Finance and Planning, Inland Revenue Department and Customs Service. The Andrew Young School of Policy Studies was funded for this training program as a subcontractor to the International Science and Technology Institute on their Macroeconomic Policy IQC with the U.S. Agency for International Development.

Section I of the assessment provides a brief general overview of the tax system in Pakistan . Section II of the report provides an evaluation of Pakistan 's tax system. Besides trying to explain the underperformance in revenue collections relative to GDP, the report examines Pakistan 's revenue buoyancy and stability over time.

Faculty from the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies traveled to Sri Lanka both before and after the program to coordinate training topics and to provide follow-up. Instruction was provided in a variety of tax policy topics, including the optimal design of income and consumption taxes as well as other issues in tax administration and tax policy.

The program included an intensive computer modeling component with particular emphasis on techniques for forecasting tax revenues and analyzing the revenue effects of proposed tax legislation. There were also a number of off-site visits, including the Coca-Cola Headquarters, the Revenue Department of Georgia and the U.S. Customs Service in Savannah, Georgia. Finally, the participants worked in teams with project instructors to complete reports on tax policy issues currently of interest to the Sri Lankan government.

Participants of this one-month training in Tax Policy Analysis were Ananda Abayaratna, Assistant Director, Department of Fiscal Policy and Economic Affairs; A.M.R. Adasooriya, Assistant Superintendent, Sri Lanka Customs; D.A.I. Daranagama, Assistant Director, Sri Lanka Customs; S.K.P. Anura Fernando, Deputy Commissioner, Inland Revenue, D.G.P.W. Gunatilake, Senior Assessor, Inland Revenue; D.A.D.D. Herath, Senior Assessor, Inland Revenue; J.P. Hiripitiya, Research Assistant, Department of Fiscal Policy and Economic Affairs; K.P. Kaluarachchi, Senior Assessor, Inland Revenue; T.D.D. Nanayakkara, Senior Assessor, Inland Revenue, M. Puviharan, Assistant Director, Sri Lanka Customs; A.K. Seneviratne, Assistant Director, Department of Fiscal Policy and Economic Affairs; Sujatha Sathkumara, Director, Department of Fiscal Policy and Economic Affairs, H.B.A. Seneviratne, Senior Assessor, Inland Revenue. For the last week of training, the particpants were joined in Atlanta by the Director General of the Ministry of Finance and Planning, Mrs. Cooray, who attended the presentations prepared by the trainees throughout their month-long training session.

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Project Publications:

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Project Team:

 Roy Bahl - Project Manager

 Jorge Martinez-Vazquez - Project Director

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