If growth-friendly reforms require fiscal space, resources should be made available in the least harmful way for growth and equity.
Broadening the tax base by rationalizing tax exemptions and preferential regimes raises revenue and boosts horizontal equity.
Shifting the tax composition to the least distortionary taxes such as taxes on consumption, increases efficiency. Taxes on property or wealth can also increase the progressivity of the tax system.
Improvements in revenue administration including through introducing risk management techniques, segmenting taxpayers, and simplifying laws and procedures, can strengthen taxpayer compliance and enhance revenue collection as well as equity.
Rationalizing the government wage bill where public sector wages and employment are high relative to the private sector; and improving the targeting of social spending can increase expenditure efficiency.
Addressing environmental externalities by phasing out energy subsidies and introducing environmental taxation can create fiscal space while facilitating implementation of growthenhancing measures, such as lower wage taxation.
For countries facing difficulties in expanding fiscal space, the focus should be on budgetneutral fiscal reforms.