COVID Module Question 5

Do published documents or information on the emergency fiscal policy package under consideration include information on tax relief measures?

Guidelines
This question asks about the availability of published information related to tax relief measures in the emergency fiscal policy package. This question is about tax policies that result in revenue losses (policies related to raising revenue are reviewed in Q10 in the “Financing” section). These policies reduce revenue by providing exceptions to the regular tax code. Such exceptions are sometimes referred to as “tax expenditures,” and can come in the form for instance of exemptions, credits, deductions, and preferential rates. They can also include the deferral of tax payments. Tax expenditures are typically provided for specified entities, individuals, or activities. Tax expenditures often have the same policy impact as providing direct subsidies, benefits, or goods and services. For example, in the pandemic, tax expenditures could be used to encourage businesses to purchase special equipment to protect their employees and customers from the virus.

The question asks whether an estimate of the total cost of all tax relief measures is provided, as well as cost estimates for each individual tax relief provision. It also asks whether information is provided that identifies the intended beneficiaries of these tax policies, such as whether they are designed to benefit individual taxpayers, small businesses, or large corporations. Finally, the question asks whether the presentation includes a narrative explaining these tax policies, such as a discussion of the social, economic, or other policy goals the tax relief is expected to achieve, eligibility criteria for accessing tax relief programs, etc.

Tick boxes: ''Please check the boxes of the items that appear in the relevant documentation. If none of the items are presented, please check ‘None of the Above’. In the comment box, please provide a detailed citation for each item selected below as described in the assessment directions as well as any additional details.''


 * ☐  Estimate of total revenue losses from tax relief measures
 * ☐  Estimate of revenue losses for individual tax relief measures
 * ☐  Policy rationale for individual tax relief measures
 * ☐  Intended beneficiaries for individual tax relief measures
 * ☐  Explanatory narrative for individual tax relief measures
 * ☐  None of the above
 * ☐  Not applicable (the EFPP does not include tax relief measures)

1) What if a country includes measures that constitute a loss of revenue for the government, but are not strictly tax relief measures?
In Qatar, the government exempted specific sectors from electricity and water fees for a period of six months (for example, the hospitality and tourism sector, the retail sector, the small and medium industries sector) and others from rents, meaning it was forgoing a transfer to the public sector (forgoing revenue). Though these are not specifically tax relief measures, we discussed that it could be appropriate to include this measure in Question 5 of the COVID module. A few follow-up questions: Does the Qatari Electricity and Water Company provide a stead stream of revenue from its profits each year to the central government that will be reduced by this COVID arrangement (as opposed to being, for instance, a money loser that actually is subsidized on a regular basis by the central government)? Would it be better to assess this measure under Question 3 on specific policy initiatives or under Question 13 as an "off-budget arrangement"? After discussion with the researcher, we added this under Question 5, but please bring this type of question to the team.

2) Should researchers only reference documents produced by the executive?
No. Researchers can use any documents produced by any public entity to answer the questions, at least to start with. We can then, when analyzing the results, decide whether these "count" or not. If you have any questions or concerns regarding a particular document, please bring it to the team.