More than a third of countries have improved their business tax systems in the past three years, according to the World Bank. But the 20-year trend for lowering the tax burden on business is being bucked in much of Africa, some Latin American countries and parts of the former Soviet Union.
The study by the World Bank found four countries – Burundi, Gambia, Sierra Leone and the Democratic Republic of Congo – in which even companies making a profit margin of 20 per cent could not afford to pay all their business taxes. In seven countries, businesses had to pay taxes at least once a week.
