Doubling Down on DRM: Are we making the right bets?
Education, health, sanitation, infrastructure and other critical public services are severely underfunded in many countries each year. A major reason for this shortfall is weak collection of tax and non-tax revenues – also known as Domestic Revenue Mobilization (DRM). In 2015, developing country governments and international donors made three political commitments to strengthen DRM, as part of the Addis Tax Initiative (ATI). This report assesses the donor “track record” since ATI commitments were made in 2015. We find that donors are not on track to meet their commitment to double support for DRM, and that there is too little consideration of equity, gender and country ownership in DRM interventions.