Examining cutting-edge issues of international relevance in the ongoing redesign of the South African local government fiscal system, the contributors to this volume analyze the major changes that have taken place since the demise of apartheid. The 1996 Constitution and subsequent legislation dramatically redefined the public sector, mandating the development of democratic local governments empowered to provide a wide variety of key public services. However, the definition and implementation of new local functions and the supporting democratic decision-making and managerial capabilities are emerging more slowly than expected. Some difficult choices and challenges commonly faced by developing countries must be dealt with before the system can evolve to more effectively meet the substantial role envisioned for local governments. The contributors outline these choices and challenges, consider options for meeting them, and review the implications of different decisions. Their analyses also highlight the interrelationships among the elements of the local fiscal structure, and emphasize the often-ignored challenge of how to define an appropriate fiscal decentralization implementation strategy in an environment where local governments are extremely diverse in terms of needs, resources and capacities. Though the research, much of it based on newly collected data, is specific to South Africa, the approach provides a model for other countries facing similar fiscal decentralization policy challenges. Applied public finance and policy academics, policymakers in developing countries, researchers and program managers in international development organizations, and students interested in local government finance in developing countries will find this timely and comprehensive volume a valuable addition to their libraries.

Responding to a deepening economic crisis, serious structural problems with the tax system, a long and deep-seated opposition to even modest tax increases, and a weak tax administration, the Guatemalan government introduced a comprehensive tax reform program in 1992. In this concise volume, Roy Bahl, Jorge Martinez-Vazquez, and Sally Wallace review

Responding to a deepening economic crisis, serious structural problems with the tax system, a long and deep-seated opposition to even modest tax increases, and a weak tax administration, the Guatemalan government introduced a comprehensive tax reform program in 1992. In this concise volume, Roy Bahl, Jorge Martinez-Vazquez, and Sally Wallace review the data that supported the creation of the reform program and evaluate the first round of revenues and tax-burden effects.Focusing their theoretical and empirical analysis on revenue yield impacts, on effects of relative prices and relative tax treatment of different types of companies, and on the distribution of tax burdens by income class, the authors factor in individual and company income taxes, value-added tax, taxes on international trade, and property tax. In each case, they describe the existing tax system and evaluate it against the traditional norms; in addition, they analyze alternative structural reforms within the Guatemalan context.Comprehensive tax reforms in less developed countries are infrequent, and the Guatemalan experience provides a fascinating case study of how modern analytic techniques can be used by policymakers to formulate tax structure changes. The authors also draw contrasts with experiences in other countries and revisit many of the principles that have been laid down for guiding tax reforms in developing nations.