OECD Tax Policy Reviews: Kazakhstan 2020
This report is part of the OECD Tax Policy Reviews publication series. The Reviews are intended to provide independent, comprehensive and comparative assessments of OECD member and non-member countries’ tax systems as well as concrete recommendations for tax policy reform. By identifying tailored tax policy reform options, the objective of the Reviews is to enhance the design of existing tax policies and to support the adoption of new reforms. This report provides an assessment of Kazakhstan's tax system and recommendations for tax reform. Chapter 1 gives an overview of the main findings and Chapter 2 sets the scene for tax reform. Chapter 3 considers tax revenue trends and analysis of the tax mix. Chapter 4 examines equity issues in Kazakhstan and provides recommendations on the personal income tax, social security contributions and value added taxes. Chapter 5 focuses on tax competitiveness issues and provides recommendations on how to strengthen the design of both the corporate income tax and special tax regimes for SMEs.
Main Findings
This chapter presents a summary overview of the main findings from the Country Tax Policy Review. Firstly, the chapter considers the importance of raising tax revenues to support Kazakhstan’s medium-term goals and longer-term sustainability. Secondly, it examines equity issues - how to share the tax burden more fairly across society. Recommendations include moving towards a broader and more progressive PIT system, raising SSCs to support the underperforming health and welfare systems and enhancing the design of the VAT. Finally, it considers competitiveness issues. Among the recommendations are to maintain CIT rates and broaden the CIT base and simplify the design of special tax regimes for SMEs.