From 20–21 January, ATAF participated in a multi-partner Tobacco Tax Meeting held at the OECD Conference Centre. The meeting, organised by Bloomberg Philanthropies, brought together leading international organisations and technical partners including the OECD, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the World Health Organisation, the FCTC Secretariat, Johns Hopkins University, the University of Bath, and the University of Cape Town, to strengthen coordination and advance more coherent approaches to tobacco taxation.
ATAF’s participation underscored its ongoing work on health taxes, particularly the key challenges African countries face in implementing them, and the critical support required to enable governments to achieve both fiscal and public health objectives. Mr. Linstrom Marangu, ATAF’s Health Tax Expert, contributed to two panel discussions—one on tobacco taxation and another on alcohol taxation—that examined policy gaps and the vital link between tax policy design and tax administration. He emphasised that health taxes are most effective when policy objectives and administrative capacity are developed in tandem, ensuring measures are not only well‑designed but also enforceable in practice.
His interventions highlighted the core building blocks of effective excise tax administration, including operational readiness, compliance management, and enforcement mechanisms required to implement and sustain health tax reforms. These considerations are central to ATAF’s engagement with its members, as many African tax administrations seek to strengthen excise systems while addressing risks such as illicit trade and compliance gaps.
Further discussions focused on aligning technical expertise, sharing country and global priorities, and strengthening coordination among partners engaged in tobacco tax reform. ATAF’s participation ensured that African tax administration perspectives were reflected in these discussions, reinforcing the importance of administrable, context-appropriate solutions.
