With the objective of learning Paraguayan citizens' perception and gauging their sense of belonging in relation to their tax obligations and the influence of tax culture on the behaviour of the population, the EUROsociAL Programme, financed by the European Union, is supporting the Paraguayan State Under-Secretariat of Taxation (SET) in the creation of a Tax Barometer.

This new instrument will allow the SET to measure its taxpayers' tax views and the basic attitudes of the population relative to taxation, making it a tool for improved decision-making in the area of Paraguayan tax policy.

In this context, the first expert advising mission took place during the week of 9th to 13th February 2015, in which two experts from Spain's Institute for Tax Studies (IEF) travelled to Asunción to develop the first phase of the activity.

To kick off this activity, a meeting was held between the Deputy Minister of Taxation, Marta González; the Deputy Minister of the Economy, Daniel Correa; the European Union Ambassador to Paraguay, Alessandro Palmero; the Head of EU Cooperation, Stefan Pauwels; the EU Economic and Commercial Attaché, Pierre Beziz; as well as various senior officials from the Paraguayan Ministry of Finance.

The work methodology was organised through meetings and technical sessions in which the participants were trained on questionnaire design, statistical sampling, and the organisation of fieldwork.

During this week of work, the anticipated results of the activity were achieved, and even surpassed, because other institutions besides the SET joined the project: the Under-Secretariat of State for the Economy, also part of the Paraguayan Ministry of Finance, and the Directorate-General of Statistics, Surveys and Censuses. This made the project inter-agency and multidisciplinary in nature (by including tax, economics and statistics experts), raising hopes that, thanks to the great interest and institutional support demonstrated, the Tax Barometer will endure as a State project.

This activity is part of the Tax Reform line of action of the EUROsociAL Programme's Public Finance area, in which the International and Ibero-American Foundation for Administration and Public Policies (FIIAPP) is acting as the coordinating partner with the Institute for Tax Studies (IEF) as its operational partner.