Highlights

Marrakech hosts the 5^th Conference of the International Tax Dialogue (ITD), an initiative for a high-level debate on taxation issues, the challenges of development financing and the best practices in this are​a. The ( ITD) is a cooperation agreement of the European Commission ( EC) , the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB ), the International Monetary Fund ( IMF), the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD ), the World Bank group  and the Inter-American Center of Tax Administrations ( CIAT) . The aim of this event is to promote dialogue on tax issues and exchange good practices. Speaking at the opening of this three-day event, the Minister of Economy and Finance, Mr. Mohamed Boussaid underlined that issues of major importance will be discussed in this meeting. It should be stressed that the income tax are the mainstay of financing the development processes and that taxation should be the focus of good governance and good distribution of powers between central and local tax authorities. Debates will focus on the partnership model that should prevail between the central and the local authorities in the field of taxation and the distribution of powers to ensure harmonious and balanced regional and national development, he stated Referring to the Moroccan tax system reforms, Mr. Boussaid stated that Morocco chose decentralization as a means of democratic governance that ensures the participation of citizens in governance and offers the best way to boost development efforts and address territorial disparities. Regionalization in territorial governance policy allowed set territorial entities up as a dynamic actor in the development process, he stressed. He added that Moroccan legislation helped to provide regions with important prerogatives allowing them to manage all the economic and social sectors of their territorial space. It is worth recalling that local communities profit from 30 pc of VAT revenues and 1 pc of income tax and corporation tax in order to provide the necessary financial tools. In this context, the General Tax Administration knew, in recent years, an important reorganization, which is transferring more powers to regional decentralized services while the headquarters ensures planning, coordination and monitoring, he stressed The Vice-President of the IMF, Mrs. Nemat Shafik, noted that the international financial crisis highlighted tax policies and good governance in the management of tax revenues. She added that such debates will provide more insight on the development of tax policies, the means to ensure the effectiveness of tax collection and equity in the distribution of these incomes at the central and local levels. The Marrakech meeting will also focus on issues related to tax competition between regions and countries and tax provisions in regional monetary unions. The Deputy Secretary General of the OECD, Mr. Rintaro Tamaki called for the decentralization of fiscal powers for a better territorial development. "Almost a third of public spending is made at local level. Expenditures are, therefore, decentralized while tax collection is not, which results in low budget performance '', he noted, calling to empower communities to develop their own tax policies.​