Digital public infrastructure and tax: High stakes, high rewards
Think tank: Institute of Development Studies
Author(s): Daisy Ogembo; Philip Mader; Fabrizio Santoro
October 30, 2025
This report from UK think tank the Institute of Development Studies argues that tax matters for DPI reforms.
Digital public infrastructure (DPI) – a set of interoperable digital systems and platforms that support service delivery, data exchange, and the functions of public and private sectors at scale – is expected to revolutionise public services and reshape the digital economy.
This policy brief acknowledges that the interface between tax and DPI has unusually high stakes, and that some previous experience with digitalisation of tax administration has run counter to DPI’s core principles of openness, inclusion, and user empowerment.
However, with careful alignment of DPI agendas and the digitalisation of tax that is already happening, tax offers a powerful opportunity to strengthen DPI.
