The Benefits of a more Strategic Approach to Tax Administration and the Role of Performance Indicators

Paper presented at the International Conference on Tax Administration, ATAX, Faculty of Law, University of New South Wales, Sydney, April 2006. A revised version appears in Further Global Challenges in Tax Administration; ed. by Margaret McKerchar, Michael Walpole. Birmingham : Fiscal Publications, 2006. ISBN 9780954504861One way of improving the quality of tax administration might be to take a more strategic approach to tax reform as has already been suggested, for example, in the cases of tax simplification, compliance and taxpayers’ charters. An important part of a strategic approach is measuring outcomes and revisiting the strategy in the light of experience gained. This paper therefore examines performance indicators and some experience of their use in tax administrations. The paper also presents the preliminary results of a new survey relating to performance indicators conducted in the Thai Excise Department. Issues arising so far are the relationship between performance indicators and staff attitudes and specific problems with excise tax collectio