Book excerpt: Taxation is increasingly in the limelight as a development agenda item, particularly with the emergence of the G20 as the premier international forum. This volume highlights the challenges faced by the Asia and Pacific region regarding tax policy and administration. Partly reflecting the diversity of the region, the region’s voice still appears to be low in comparison with that of other regions such as Europe and Latin America. This book introduces ADB’s and ADBI’s active roles in assisting developing countries with respect to taxation. In addition, this book is an attempt to narrow the gap in understanding between development specialists and tax specialists. This publication, an anthology by contributors who have been involved in ADB’s and ADBI’s activities on fiscal policy and taxation in various capacities is classified into three groups: (i) bird’s-eye overviews that discuss tax and development issues in Asia and the Pacific; (ii) country case studies that present theoretical policy analysis of a particular economy; and (iii) another set of country case studies that share practical experiences regarding the tax system of a particular economy.