The Tax Reform Experiment in Transitional Countries

The last decade has been witness to one of the largest tax experiments in economic history: the transformation from centrally-planned to market-based tax systems. The cultural and institutional legacy of central planning has had a lasting impact on tax reform in countries in transition. The fundamental choices for reform were a big-bang approach or an evolutionary approach. With the benefit of hindsight, we can now evaluate the choices made and whether or not basic advice was heeded. The tax systems that have emerged are, at least in some ways, satisfactory in terms of tax policy but deficient in terms of tax administration and enforcement. Experiences with tax reform have been diverse, and in some countries there has been very little reform at all. We conclude by examining what lessons have been learned during the first decade of transition.