Published on August 28, 2025 – Updated on September 4, 2025

Alima Traoré is in Casablanca to supervise a survey on taxation

Alima Traoré, PhD student in economics at the Université Clermont Auvergne and CERDI, is in Casablanca for a few months to work on her PhD thesis. She will also supervise a survey on taxation for the TEFISCON project. This Franco-German research program focuses on tax expenditures and the fiscal contract. The concept of fiscal contract refers to the implicit agreement between the state and taxpayers who are willing to pay their taxes in exchange for public service delivery.  

Tax expenditures refer to tax cuts and tax exemptions provided to taxpayers. The survey is about the Value Added Tax (VAT), this tax represents 32.4% of tax revenue and 73.8% of indirect tax in Morocco. The survey seeks to determine how households perceive tax expenditures and VAT. Reduced rates and exemptions represent an important fiscal effort, but consumers are often not well-informed about taxes.  

The survey aims to:  

  • Comprehend what households know about VAT, if they are aware of the different rates, and if they are informed about income categories. 
  • Understand how they perceive fairness and the distributive role of these measures.
  • Evaluate if citizens support the fiscal policy when they become aware of the cost for the State budget.  

Alima is in the test phase of the survey that will last for two months. Two thousand four hundred households living in Casablanca will be surveyed. This stay is a great opportunity for her to enhance her skills and collect useful information and data for her doctoral thesis. Her visit is supported by the Erasmus+ programme.  

Alima knows Morocco very well. She interned there during her master's studies. She then evaluated a support project on the modernization of public finances in DR Congo for the AfDB.  

More information on the TEFISCON project.