Reported by: Prince Saah
Monrovia, Liberia – The Tax Expenditure Management Act of 2025 has been formally introduced by the Government of Liberia through the Ministry of Finance, which describes it as a historic fiscal reform intended to improve domestic revenue mobilisation while bringing more accountability, transparency, and discipline to the allocation of tax incentives.
The new law creates, for the first time in Liberia’s history, a comprehensive legal framework governing the approval, registration, monitoring, evaluation, and reporting of all tax expenditures across the nation’s economy, according to Anthony G. Myers, Deputy Minister for Fiscal Affairs at the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning, who spoke at the official launch in Monrovia on Tuesday, July 7, 2026.
According to the minister, the legislation resolves long-standing issues with the dispersed administration of tax incentives, which were previously provided through a number of Liberia Revenue Code provisions, concession agreements, investment contracts, executive orders, international treaties, and sector-specific laws without a single monitoring system.
Every tax exemption, tax holiday, customs duty waiver, and preferential tax treatment comes at a cost to government revenue and must therefore be subject to the same level of scrutiny as direct public spending, he noted, even though tax incentives are still a crucial tool for luring investment, fostering industrialization, creating jobs, and promoting technology transfer.
He clarified that the establishment of Liberia’s first Tax Expenditure Register, a centralised database that will document all authorised tax incentives, identify beneficiaries, specify the legal foundation for each incentive, estimate revenue lost, and track the duration and performance of each tax expenditure, is a crucial component of the Act.
“The law also mandates the publication of an annual tax expenditure report, providing the government, the legislature, development partners, investors, researchers and the public with detailed information on the fiscal cost and effectiveness of tax incentives,” Deputy Minister Myers added.
The reform, according to the MFDP Deputy Minister for Fiscal Affairs, is aimed at improving Liberia’s investment climate by guaranteeing uniformity, predictability, and transparency in the administration of tax incentives rather than discouraging investment. “Investors are attracted not only by incentives but also by certainty, transparency, predictability and strong institutions,” the ministry noted, adding that the “Act balances investment promotion with fiscal sustainability and sound economic governance,” he stated.
The Ministry of Finance and Development Planning, the Liberia Revenue Authority (LRA), the General Auditing Commission (GAC), the Internal Audit Agency (IAA), and other oversight organizations will all benefit from the €7 million technical assistance program the EU has signed to support ongoing public financial management reforms. The initiative is anticipated to increase accountability across government institutions and support the implementation of the new tax expenditure framework, according to the EU.
P. Garswa Jackson, Sr., Auditor General of Liberia, also applauded the effort, emphazising that raising public knowledge is crucial to guaranteeing adherence to the new legislation. He pointed out that comprehension is the first step toward compliance noting that it is impossible to expect institutions and citizens to follow rules they cannot understand.
Mamadee A. Bility, Director of the Indirect Taxation Unit, MFDP, gave an overview of the Tax Expenditure Management Act of 2025. She explained that the law creates a centralized Tax Expenditure Register that will record all tax incentive recipients throughout Liberia, allowing the government to accurately report to the Legislature and the public the cost of tax exemptions and incentives.
Beneficiaries will obtain formal Tax Incentive Certificates outlining the precise exemptions or lower tax rates they are eligible for under the new structure, according to Bility. He added that before any new tax incentive can be approved, the Act mandates fiscal impact assessments, which force the government to assess both the projected revenue losses and the predicted economic advantages, such as increased employment, investment, and production.
“Another major reform is the introduction of sunset clauses, ending the practice of perpetual tax incentives by requiring all future incentives to have expiration dates,” he noted.
According to the director of the Indirect Taxation Unit, recipients will also have to provide regular reports proving they are fulfilling the financial obligations that led to the awarding of their incentives.
