Work on taxation at IDS is primarily led by the International Centre for Tax and Development which is funded by the UK Department for International Development and the Norwegian Government’s Agency for Development Cooperation.

The International Centre for Tax and Development (ICTD) is a global policy research network dealing with the political economy of taxation policies and practices in relation to the poorer parts of the world. The ultimate objective of the ICTD is to contribute to development in the poorer parts of the world by mobilising knowledge that will help make taxation policies more conducive to pro-poor economic growth and good governance. The operational objectives are to generate and disseminate relevant knowledge to policymakers and to mobilise knowledge in ways that will widen and deepen public debate about taxation issues within poorer countries.

Keys area of focus for ICTD include:

• Cross-national Tax Data and Econometric Analysis
• Tax Compliance and Taxpayer Perceptions
• Rethinking National Tax Administration and Tax Reform
• International Dimensions of Taxation and Tax Evasion
• Taxation in Post-conflict States
• Local Government Taxation
• Informal Sector Taxation
• Natural Resource Taxation

IDS' Globalisation team has also undertaken a systemic review on the feasibility of implementing a financial transactions tax.