The Permanent Secretariat of the Tax Policy Committee of the Ministry of Economy, Finance and Planning published the results of its assessment of tax expenditures or tax exemptions for 2020 at the end of December 2021. It appears that these exemptions cost more than 110 billion CFA francs to the state budget. Summary of the report.

According to WAEMU community law, "a tax expenditure is a transfer of public resources resulting from a reduction in tax obligations relative to a reference tax system, rather than a direct expenditure. It results from a derogatory measure of a fiscal nature taken by an authorized authority, with a view to reducing the tax burden of a taxpayer or a sector of activity and which leads to a loss of revenue for the Public Treasury". Tax expenditures therefore consist of legislative or regulatory provisions that derogate from common law. They come in the form of total exemptions, partial exemptions, tax rate reductions or tax reductions.

49% of tax benefits were used to benefit the mining sector. According to the report, the total cost of the measures assessed amounts to 110,278,577,891 CFA francs in 2020 compared to 76,078,011,748 CFA francs for 2019, corresponding to an increase in tax expenditure of 45.0%. In general, companies benefited from 78 billion, or 71% of the total tax expenditure. Households, with 15 billion CFA francs, or 13%, come in second place; followed by public administrations which have benefited from tax concessions amounting to 8 billion CFA francs, or 8%.