Monrova, Liberia – Revenue Authority (LRA) Commissioner General James Dorbor Jallah has urged West African countries to deepen collaboration among their tax administrations, arguing that stronger regional integration is essential to improving domestic revenue collection and responding to emerging cross-border and digital taxation challenges.
Commissioner General Jallah made the call during the 8th West African Tax Administration Forum (WATAF) High-Level Policy Dialogue and 23rd General Assembly currently taking place in Accra, Ghana.
Addressing tax officials, policymakers, development partners and other stakeholders, Jallah said WATAF’s next chapter should focus not only on cooperation but also on building stronger systems that connect tax administrations across the region.
He pointed to Liberia’s experience within WATAF as evidence of the benefits of regional collaboration and the exchange of technical knowledge.
“Liberia’s story is, in a real sense, the WATAF story: an administration made stronger by belonging,” Jallah said.
According to the LRA Commissioner General, the rapid integration of trade, investment, digital commerce and multinational business operations has created tax challenges that individual countries cannot effectively address in isolation.
He posed the question of whether tax administrations should evolve at the same pace as the taxpayers and businesses they regulate.
Jallah proposed four major areas for advancing regional tax integration: a common rulebook, a shared data space, coordinated action against illicit financial flows, and a unified approach to environmental taxation.
On tax policy, he called for greater harmonization of rules covering areas such as transfer pricing, tax treaties and the digital economy. He said common approaches could help reduce revenue losses while strengthening West Africa’s position in international tax negotiations.
He also advocated stronger systems for exchanging tax information across borders. This, he said, should include secure and interoperable platforms capable of connecting customs records, beneficial ownership information and other relevant data needed to improve tax compliance.
Addressing illicit financial flows, Jallah called for closer cooperation among regional tax and customs authorities, including improved information sharing, coordinated customs valuation and enhanced monitoring of revenues from strategic sectors such as mining and petroleum.
He further encouraged West African countries to coordinate their positions in international tax negotiations.
“The global tax rules of this decade are being written now. West Africa should not be a footnote in that text. We should be an author,” he said.
The LRA boss also emphasized the role of environmental taxation in the region’s future. He proposed greater coordination on carbon, pollution and other environmental taxes, noting that regional consistency could help maintain competitiveness while supporting environmental objectives and improving access to climate-related financing.
Jallah said the need to strengthen domestic revenue mobilization has become increasingly urgent as countries face declining development assistance, growing debt-service obligations and climate-related pressures.
He stressed that stronger domestic revenue systems would be critical to enabling governments to finance national development priorities with greater sustainability.
The Commissioner General also appealed to development partners to increase investment in regional tax infrastructure, including shared technological systems, common standards and institutions designed to improve cooperation among national revenue authorities.
As WATAF marks its first 15 years, Jallah challenged member states to use the next 15 years to pursue deeper integration.
“Let us leave Accra having wagered even bigger, on a West Africa whose tax administrations are as integrated as its economies, as connected as its people, and as confident as its future demands,” he said.
The WATAF High-Level Policy Dialogue and 23rd General Assembly is being held from September 15–19, 2026, under the theme “Building Stronger Tax Administrations for Revenue Mobilisation and Sustainable Development.”
The gathering brings together heads of tax administrations, government policymakers, regional institutions, development partners and other stakeholders to examine ways of strengthening tax administration, increasing domestic resource mobilization and advancing sustainable development across West Africa.
