Fighting graft boosts tax revenues: IMF
Reducing corruption allows governments to collect more in taxes, according to a study published Thursday by the International Monetary Fund.
The global crisis lender estimates that, among advanced economies, those that best combat graft collect on average 4.5 percent more in tax revenue as a share of GDP than those most beset by corruption.
“The annual cost of bribery alone is over $1.5 trillion, roughly two percent of global GDP," IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said Tuesday in remarks previewing next week's spring meetings with the World Bank. "Money laundering and the financing of terrorism are other serious dimensions of the problem, where the IMF has been working with over 100 countries."
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