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An important contribution to the Government’s new socio-economic policy
Algeria/Sila 2025
It is within the framework of dialectics, practical theory, that the important work, which appeared at the Office of University Publications (OPU), by Mustapha Bensahli, is part of, which he presents in this month of October 2025, at the important cultural meeting organized by the Commissariat of the International Book Fair of Algiers (Sila), the 28th edition of this great meeting which will be held from October 29 to November 8 2025, at the Palais des exhibitions des Pins maritimes in Algiers, which will welcome publishers, authors, book professionals that the author, who interrupted his university studies following the UGEMA strike slogan in 1956, resumed them after the event of independence, holds a university degree in management and planning, an eminent international expert in taxation, which he asked me to preface.
This work will be a reference, both for decision-makers for their actions, and for teachers and students for their research, on a very sensitive and oh-so-important subject in any socio-economic policy (two volumes 789 pages).
1.- A practitioner without theoretical culture navigates according to the circumstances, without a strategic vision that could cause losses to the nation in tens of billions of dollars. A theorist without field investigations develops non-operational schemes, ignoring social reality. The work, entitled “The upgrade in taxation – Myth or reality – Algerian experience” is structured around five titles as follows: Title 1: “The deciphering of the upgrade in taxation” – Title II: “The process of taxation facing the challenges of globalization” – Title III: “Taxation in Algeria at the crossroads” – Title IV: “International standards serving as a model of inspiration for the upgrade in taxation” – Title V: “Ways and means of upgrading in taxation”. This present work honors an Algerian expert and deserves all encouragement, especially since there are few writings on this crucial subject, encouraging people not to always depend on hydrocarbon revenues, an ephemeral and uncertain resource as shown by all the economic and social crises which have shaken Algeria with the fall in prices, and in order to establish a diversified economy within the framework of international values. A high-level international expert in tax and financial matters, Mustapha Bensahli has successively assumed several responsibilities, notably at the Ministry of Finance, taught in higher education establishments in Algeria and Europe and intervened on behalf of the IMF and international organizations in several African countries, as part of the implementation of reforms linked to his area of specialization. A known and recognized tax expert, the author uses his extensive experience in the field of taxation to initiate, through his book, a deep reflection on the problem of governance in the management and control of tax collection and its distribution. The theme of upgrading taxation comes at the right time, in this particular period of tension that our country is going through on both a health and economic level. To allow taxation to regain all its marks, the author begins in the work to make a diagnosis showing, among other things, in detail that it contains, when tested by the facts, many stumbling points which actually hinder its proper functioning and which could initially have been in the inclusive service of progress. The expert highlights that at the level of the tax system, from upstream to downstream, the operating cogs are practically seized up.
The reason for this is the massive pileup of new provisions provided for in the Finance Laws and consisting only of repeatedly and superficially patching up a few gaps observed in the light of the facts, with tax management not having all the assets it needs to be efficient. Everything contributes to demonstrating that it is no longer possible, in good logic, to continue to remain in this virtually latent situation of status quo, by persisting in favoring the cyclical path to the detriment of the structural one which is nevertheless fundamental. Consequently, everything calls for the taxation in Algeria to undergo profound reforms, remedying the clear gap in relation to the local, national and international environment. This is precisely the case, for example, of the general tax code which must be reviewed in depth. Becoming over time, more and more dense and hypertrophied until it becomes correlatively more and more difficult, taxation cannot be operational under these conditions, especially with an overload of small taxes whose yield hardly compensates for the cost of management and to which is added a plethora of tax loopholes with no real impact on investment.
Taxation is not reducible to a simple grooming deemed superficial by conforming to past practices and even less, to a minimum reform, but rather it refers to a restructuring of a credible scale which guarantees clear progress in all cases. Also, the author recommends, ultimately, some possible solutions with a view to rehabilitating the tax system, by postulating for the freedom from certain constraints in order to catch up and absorb the delay observed, while coming into line with international standards. The upgrade being a large-scale process which, by covering in its broad scope both State taxation and local authority taxation, becomes, as such, emblematic, in that it tends to break the classic conceptual circle on the basis of a body of efficient and fair principles. All this imperatively requires the observation of certain rules considered fundamental, starting with membership, because the tax upgrade cannot be conceived without the participation of stakeholders, in this case, qualified representatives of companies, who can be of significant contribution. In any case, participation is an essential rule of governance and a guarantee of the success of the tax upgrade, not being able to remain, as usual, the prerogative of a small team of tax administration jealously reserving the right to exclusively concoct reforms without major openings, and in the light of each year, within the framework of the Finance Law.
Furthermore, the author considers that the upgrade in taxation, if it were to be effectively implemented, does not constitute an end in itself and that it is expected to continue taking into account new and numerous endogenous and exogenous parameters resulting from the evolution of time and the environment. In essence, upgrading in taxation is above all a continuous process and each era has its marker varying on the societal level, punctuated to adapt to the data of the new rapidly changing context.
Abderrahmane Mebtoul
University professor
International expert
(To be continued…)