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This study delievers a comparative political economy analysis of the Indonesian and Philippine tax administration reforms of the years 2002 to 2010. It applies an actor-centred historical institutionalism approach and uses the neopatrimonialism concept as its main analytical lens.

Within the last decade, scholars and practitioners have increasingly discussed domestic resource mobilization as a development financing tool. Revenues from domestic sources are regarded as more stable than resources derived from world capital markets. Moreover, taxes are ascribed a positive impact on state building and good governance. In most developing and transition countries, so far, the tax ratio has been lower than the internationally advocated twenty percent of their gross domestic product. Within this context, research on taxation in developing countries has grown, and efforts to improve tax systems have proliferated globally. Strong interest and rhetoric on enhancing domestic resource mobilization however does not necessarily translate into more effective and efficient, equitable and impartial tax systems as previous experience has shown. The reasons accounting for low tax efforts and for the relative success and failure of tax reforms in many countries have remained under-researched. This has been particularly true for countries in Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. This study contributes to this research gap by a comparative political economy analysis of the Indonesian and Philippine cases. The study focuses on the tax administration reforms of the years 2002 to 2010. It applies an actor-centred historical institutionalism approach and uses the neopatrimonialism concept as its main analytical lens. Due to the scarcity of related academic research and published material, the study relies to a large degree on the analysis of primary sources. The study's insights draw on 90 formal expert interviews and four focus group discussions with respondents from inside and outside the tax authorities conducted in 2009. Field mission information collected in 2012 complements these perspectives. A detailed review and analysis of annual national budgets, budget speeches, and state of the nation addresses, relevant legislation, journal articles, and newspaper articles substantiate the study further. Based on these data, the study describes how the tax administrations are structured and reveals how taxes are administered by law and in practise. It analyses what accounts for the shortcomings and weaknesses in taxation. Further it describes what kind of efforts the governments are pursuing to increase their tax take. It analyses the processes of these modernization and reform efforts and examines the factors why Indonesia in comparison with the Philippines has been widely perceived as the more successful reformer during the period under observation. The study finds that many of the shortcomings and weaknesses the tax administrations in both countries show are institutionalised. They have existed for decades and often been deliberately created and sustained. Path dependence makes it difficult for reforms to be implemented. Yet, human agents choose directions, therefore can overcome institutional constraints. The study suggests that two agency-related factors are highly decisive in explaining the different outcomes of reforms. These are the degree of power concentration found in a country in combination with the perceived strength of change management applied in the reform process. There is evidence, that the successful implementation of reforms is the more unlikely the more concentrated power, in other words the higher the degree of economic elite capture of politics and bureaucracy. Yet, strong change management holds the potential to overcome resistance against reforms.

Indonesia has long been associated with neopatrimonialism, corruption, collusion, and nepotism as the main modi operandi of politics, economics and public administration. Despite various measures and initiatives to fight these practises, little evidence for a significant decline can be found over the years. Rather, longitudinal analysis points to changes in the character of neopatrimonialism. Based on more than 60 in-depth interviews, focus-group discussions, and the analysis of both primary and secondary data, the aim of this article is, first, to describe the changes that have taken place, and, second, to investigate what accounts for these changes. Political economy concepts posit the amount and development of economic rents as the explanatory factor for the persistence and change of neopatrimonialism. This study's findings, however, indicate that rents alone cannot explain what has taken place in Indonesia. Democratisation and decentralisation exert a stronger impact.

The article analyzes the newly elected term of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono of Indonesia, who won 60.8% of the vote during the 2009 elections. The author introduces the article with an analytic synopsis of electoral events and further summarizes the election, the new cabinet and coalition government, the reform agenda, and ties in the new perspective of the administration. The author states Indonesian governance, which has positively progressed since the Suharto regime; but still needs further reform. The author examines the metamorphosis and consolidation of the democratic process, and the dynamic toward a constitutional and democratic government; which will continue as many national and international observers hope. Adapted from the source document.

Neopatrimonialism is a concept that has predominately been applied to describe governance in sub-Saharan Africa. Recently, though, it has also been used to describe states from other world regions. However, scholars have rarely attempted to systematically compare neopatrimonial rule in different regional settings. This paper aims to narrow this gap by examining the effect of neopatrimonialism on the tax administration as a core state function in six countries from three different world regions: Argentina, Venezuela, Indonesia, the Philippines, Kenya and Zambia. We conclude that neopatrimonialism is a valuable concept for comparative area studies with the potential to foster dialogue on the state in operation across the regional divide. However, several indicators are more valid for some world regions than for others. We find that there is no systematic relationship between neopatrimonial trajectories and the strength of tax administration. Individual actor decisions influence the outcomes of neopatrimonialism substantially.

Indonesia has long been associated with neopatrimonialism, corruption, collusion, and nepotism as the main modi operandi of politics, economics and public administration. Despite various measures and initiatives to fight these practises, little evidence for a significant decline can be found over the years. Rather, longitudinal analysis points to changes in the character of neopatrimonialism. Based on more than 60 in-depth interviews, focus-group discussions, and the analysis of both primary and secondary data, the aim of this article is, first, to describe the changes that have taken place, and, second, to investigate what accounts for these changes. Political economy concepts posit the amount and development of economic rents as the explanatory factor for the persistence and change of neopatrimonialism. This study's findings, however, indicate that rents alone cannot explain what has taken place in Indonesia. Democratisation and decentralisation exert a stronger impact. -- Economic Rents ; Neopatrimonialism ; Democratisation ; Decentralisation ; Indonesia

Steuern und Entwicklung werden in zunehmendem Maße in einen direkten Zusammenhang gebracht. Die Zahl an Veröffentlichungen zu diesem Thema ist weltweit in den letzten Jahren rasant angestiegen. Erst im April 2013 unterstrich die Interamerikanische Entwicklungsbank (IADB) mit ihrer Jahrespublikation "More than Revenue: Taxation as a Development Tool" die Relevanz des Themas. Die Armutsbekämpfung erfordert ausreichende Staatseinnahmen. Ohne diese kann der Staat seinem Auftrag, öffentliche Güter bereitzustellen, nicht nachkommen. Gerade Entwicklungsländer sind mit dem Problem mangelnder Staatseinkünfte konfrontiert. Eine Steuerquote von wenigstens 20 Prozent wird international als notwendige Richtmarke zur Deckung der allernötigsten Staatsausgaben angesehen. Während in Europa und Nordamerika nahezu alle Staaten diesen Wert eindeutig überschreiten, verfehlen ihn viele Staaten in Asien, Lateinamerika, im Nahen Osten und in Sub-Sahara Afrika. Ein kausaler Zusammenhang besteht weder zwischen Pro-Kopf-Einkommen und Steuerquote noch zwischen politischen Systemen und der Steuerquote. Die Gründe für niedrige Steuereinnahmen sind vielfältig. Sie lassen sich drei Themenkomplexen zuordnen: Steuerpolitik, Steuerverwaltung und Ausschöpfung des Steuerpotenzials. Die Anzahl internationaler, nationaler wie auch regionaler Initiativen zur Mobilisierung eigener Ressourcen hat in den letzten zehn Jahren stark zugenommen. Die Unterversorgung mit öffentlichen Gütern und die weit verbreitete Armut in Entwicklungsländern weisen auf einen akuten Handlungsbedarf zur Erhöhung der Steuereinnahmen hin, der auch in Zusammenhang mit der Erreichung der UN-Millenniumsentwicklungsziele steht.