ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the evolution and current status of tax revenue in the context of budget financing in the five countries of the Maghreb: Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Libya and Mauritania. In all five countries the fiscal organisation inherited from the colonial past is still visible. The complexity of fiscal systems in the Maghreb is a function of diversification of the economy, which was in turn provoked by colonial penetration. Today, the structure of tax revenue, which is derived mostly from indirect taxes, is a reflection of the lack of domestic integration and of the extroverted orientation of Maghrebi countries. Since independence, no important transformation has occurred. Quite to the contrary, the advent of a rentier economy based on oil exports, in particular in Libya and Algeria, has contributed to the reduction of the role of tax revenue in the financing of the budget.
