Abidjan (Côte d'Ivoire) - Tax exemptions amounted to CFAF 341.5 billion in 2018 in Côte d'Ivoire compared to CFAF 329.2 billion in 2016 and CFAF 359.9 billion in 2017, i.e., on average, just over 10% of total revenues and 1.4% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) over these years, APA learned Tuesday from an official source in the Ivorian economic capital.

The information was given by Ouattara Sié Abou, the Director General of Taxes who was speaking in a speech at a regional seminar to share experiences of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) in in the assessment of tax expenditures.

This four-day regional workshop aims to rationalise tax expenditures within the Union and contribute to improving sub-regional integration through the strengthening of coordination mechanisms between Member States.

"Today's workshop is a key issue for our administrations in a context of fiscal transition that calls for the optimization of domestic tax revenues in order to meet the economic and social challenges of our governments," Ouattara said.

According to him, the preparation of a report on the impact of tax advantages according to good practices makes it possible, among other things, to control the costs of tax exemptions and to guarantee transparency.

Tax exemptions, he also pointed out, are very often considered as factors of underperformance of tax administrations. This is why Mr. Ouattara called on WAEMU member states to reflect on finding answers to several issues.

The latter will include how to reconcile the imperatives of mobilizing domestic revenues with the desire to support companies and support government social policies, to ensure the effectiveness of tax exemptions in favour of businesses and households in terms of costs/benefits as well as the adaptation of the tax system to socio-economic reality in a rapidly changing economy.

In the same vein, Adama Sall, the Ivorian Minister's Chief of Staff to the Prime Minister in charge of the budget and the State portfolio hoped that these foundations would lead to optimal management of tax exemptions and thus reduce their weight in tax revenues.

Releating in turn, the merits of this regional workshop, Gustave Diasso, the Resident Representative of the WAEMU Commission in Côte d'Ivoire, argued that it will strengthen the capacity of the teams responsible for evaluating tax expenditures based on lessons learned from national experiences.

Several communications, including that on methods for assessing tax expenditures, will furnish the meeting, which will end on Friday.