Tax Coordination and Competition in The West African Economic and Monetary Union

The West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU)  is one of few regions in the developing world where member countries share a single currency (the CFA franc, franc de la Communauté Financière Africaine), form a customs union, and have had more than a decade of tax coordination and harmonization experience in domestic taxation. Today, more than 80 percent of member countries’ tax revenues (including the external tariff) are derived from taxes that are subject to regional directives or regulations. This economic integration was in no small part because of the fiscal problems of the late 1980s and early 1990s, and the subsequent devaluation of the CFA franc in 1994. Following this devaluation, member states signed the WAEMU treaty on January 10, 1994, in Dakar; by August 1 of that year, they had all ratified it. The formation of the customs union with a common external tariff (CET) was completed by 2000; directives on VAT and excises were introduced in 1998; and by 2009 the region completed a set of directives on capital income taxation..../...