Giovanni Occhiali

Person

Research Fellow

Email

G.Occhiali@ids.ac.uk

Dr Giovanni Occhiali is a Development Economist for the International Centre for Tax and Development.

He works on a number of projects related to Tax Administration and Compliance, Tax and Governance and co-leads the ICTD’s teaching and learning program together with Dr Max Gallien. He is the research lead on the Climate and Environmental Tax programme

He holds a PhD from the University of Birmingham and prior to joining ICTD, he was a Researcher at the Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei and an Overseas Development Institute Fellow at the National Revenue Authority of Sierra Leone. His research focuses on Sub-Saharan Africa, and outside of the field of taxation his main interests are energy economics and industrial policies.

Languages: English and Italian (fluent)

Pronouns: He/him

Project

Conceptualisation of Earmarked Taxes to Support Food Fortification

Food fortification is one of the most rapid, cost-effective, scalable and evidence-based impactful strategies to reach hundreds of millions to combat micronutrient malnutrition, when delivered as intended (Horton, 2006, Keats et al., 2019; Mbuya et al., 2020; Saha et al, 2021). However, the...

Centre

International Centre for Tax and Development (ICTD)

The International Centre for Tax and Development (ICTD) provides research evidence that supports developing countries in raising domestic revenues equitably and sustainably, in a manner that is conducive to pro-poor economic growth and good governance.

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Opinion

Wealthy Africans often don’t pay tax: the answer lies in smarter collection

Faced with some of the worse debt levels in over a decade, African countries are struggling to find ways to balance their books. Increasing revenue sources from their citizens is an obvious place to look. A good starting point for African countries would be to focus on the tax...

Giovanni Occhiali

28 March 2025

Opinion

How to tax the ultra-rich: G20 proposal vs. the tools at hand

"It is important for all taxpayers, including the ultra-high-net-worth individuals, to contribute their fair share in taxes," said the finance ministers and central bankers in a joint statement marking the conclusion of two days of meeting in Brazil. Brazil, which this year is presiding over...

Giovanni Occhiali & 2 others

5 August 2024

Opinion

Tax programmes divide UK politics, but there’s one we can all agree on

The UK has been a global leader in tax and international development under a variety of governments. After the general election on the 4 July, it will be critical for the incoming administration to continue this consensus. From council taxes to VAT on private school fees, the past few...

Max Gallien & 2 others

27 June 2024

Opinion

Curbing environmental damage: taxation in Africa

How can environmental taxes increase the sustainability of economic growth in low-income countries? Environmental taxes can be defined as any tax imposed on a base with a proven negative impact on the environment – examples include import tariffs on plastic material, charges on traffic...

Giovanni Occhiali

5 December 2023

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Journal Article

Missing the forest for the trees: Ekiti State’s quest for forestry revenue and its impact on forest managers

Forest Policy and Economics 172

Many countries’ forests are over-exploited and mismanaged, including through ineffective taxation. This is the case across Nigeria, where forest management has been decentralised to individual states. In this paper we assess the forestry tax regime in Ekiti State, where forests represent...

Giovanni Occhiali

Michael Falade

25 February 2025

Journal Article

Taxing High-net-worth Individuals in Nigeria: Challenges and Opportunities for Policy-makers from a Preliminary Investigation

Nigeria ranks third in Africa for the number of US dollar millionaires, but whether these high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs) are contributing their fair share to domestic revenue mobilization is open to question. Although there have been various attempts to improve tax collection in recent...

Giovanni Occhiali & 2 others

10 February 2025

Brief

Taxing the Wealthy in Lower-Income Countries: Why It’s Important, and How to Do It

ICTD Policy Brief 14

The world is experiencing multiple crises, including increasing global tension, skyrocketing debt levels, and climate change. Lower-income countries (LICs) are bearing the brunt of these crises. Their finances, both from domestic sources and international aid, are not growing sufficiently to...

Giovanni Occhiali & 3 others

3 February 2025

Working Paper

Taxation of Fisheries in Kenya: Neither Improving Management nor Raising Revenue?

ICTD Working Paper 206

The Kenyan government believes fisheries have significant potential for development. Yet their development faces many challenges – some of which are connected to a lack of the data needed to ensure their effective management. We do not, for example, have reliable information on the total...

Giovanni Occhiali & 2 others

9 August 2024

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Past Event

Towards a digital tax administration: lessons learnt and directions for reform

Governments across the African continent are investing heavily in digital transformation and have made huge progress in the past decade. Many core functions such as tax filing and payment are fully digitised in many contexts. The development of Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) has been key to...

From 12 December 2024 until 13 December 2024

News

IDS-hosted ICTD launches new programme on Climate and Environmental Tax

The IDS-based International Centre for Tax and Development is thrilled to launch a new research programme on Climate and Environmental Tax. As the climate emergency worsens, our research aims to provide more evidence on what types of climate and environmental taxes are desirable for...

14 February 2023

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