In El Salvador as elsewhere, tax revenue is fundamental for future investment projects and public services — education, health care, and public safety. Despite significant recent improvements in tax revenue performance, El Salvador's tax revenue represented only 15.5% of GDP in fiscal year 2013, continuing to lag behind regional peers.
While stricter tax administration controls, improved collection mechanisms, and policy reforms have all contributed to better tax compliance and rising tax-to-GDP levels in the past decade, realising El Salvador's tax capacity hinges on the government's ability to further improve voluntary compliance. Plans by the current administration to forge a national fiscal pact — a shared commitment between the government and society for better-managed spending and greater compliance — have not yet come to fruition. Focusing on future taxpayers, the ministry of finance launched an outreach campaign called "Expresate" (express yourself) to teach Salvadoran youth how taxes contribute to better communities.
Identified as a top priority by ministry of finance and private sector representatives in a joint policy for improved fiscal transparency, Expresate started in March, with the assistance of a US Agency for International Development (USAid)-funded project implemented by DAI. This programme aims to inform Salvadorans aged 15–20 about the country's fiscal affairs and to teach tax compliance as a social responsibility and critical determinant of sustained economic growth. The government of El Salvador, a country where more than 60% of the population is below the age of 29, sees opportunity in building consensus among its future taxpayers. It hopes to shift from a culture of tax evasion to one of voluntary compliance sustained by the government's commitment to transparency and accountability. Although voting and civic activism are more commonly seen as markers of active citizenship, paying taxes is arguably the one action through which youth quite literally "buy in" to the social contract between citizens and government.
Expresate brings together educators, psychologists, policy makers, and tax officials under the leadership of the ministry of finance, supported by the Fiscal Policy and Expenditure Management Programme (FPEMP). Expresate is a hands-on learning experience, combining recreation and education in a custom-designed facility that explores the country's fiscal realities. In addition to the ministry of finance's fiscal education unit, the ministry of education contributed ideas and expertise.
The tax awareness experience takes youth on an informational, interactive, and fun walk through six exhibits that aim to change their perception of taxation. Using wall-sized whiteboards, the first exhibit—the Expresate Room—allows students to spontaneously express their opinions about taxation and government spending. At the end of the visit, these initial views are revisited and compared with their new attitudes toward taxation. The second exhibit shows a video about the history of taxation and government spending in El Salvador in three different time periods—sensitising young people about what taxes the government collects and how it uses them to deliver public services. The next exhibit is a museum displaying the antiquated computers, desks, safes, and telephones that government officers used to collect taxes in pre-civil war times.
Using art, music, and other abstract stimuli to expose students to a dystopian world of rampant evasion resulting in extreme poverty, illiteracy, sickness, and crumbling infrastructure, the exhibit aims to evoke emotion in the "Hall of Evasion." The next exhibit, the Reflection Room, unveils a picture of a stable, well-developed El Salvador — one where tax revenue adequately finances proper education, basic health, roads and bridges, and research and development — encouraging youth to reflect on their personal role in shaping the country's future.
To end their visit, a facilitator engages students in reflective debates about the role of taxes and government spending in their communities, and their perspectives on how they personally can contribute to the country's economic development. Young visitors are then encouraged to be active participants and overseers of government activities by exposing them to tools such as electronic tax filing, taxpayer services, the ministry of finance fiscal transparency portal, and other government initiatives aimed at reducing tax compliance costs and improving fiscal transparency and accountability.
Having hosted more than 2,200 Salvadoran youth so far, the Expresate initiative is the first of its kind in Latin America. Over time, the government of El Salvador expects that Expresate — along with other government initiatives aimed at tackling tax evasion and improving tax compliance — will provide tangible results in terms of reduced evasion rates and improved tax revenue mobilization. In the meantime, FPEMP will continue supporting Government of El Salvador efforts to hold up its side of the social contract — that is, transforming itself into a high-performing, results-driven administration committed to taxing citizens fairly, spending money wisely, and delivering services that citizens need and want to accelerate growth, preserve stability, and improve living conditions for all Salvadorans.
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