As budget aid from donors becomes increasingly scarce, the State is currently attempting to fill the deficit through new taxes. A logical reaction in itself, but one that can unfortunately produce unintended consequences. The tax that kills taxation. At first glance, raising taxes and levies on the same businesses and taxpayers may seem the most immediate solution. Yet it is not without risks: if the pressure becomes too strong, it reduces the investment capacity of businesses, particularly SMEs, discourages formalization, and pushes certain activities to remain informal. In the long term, the remedy risks weakening precisely the tax base one seeks to develop. The alternative solution, supported by tax experts, consists of broadening the tax base by gradually bringing more businesses and activities into the formal system. An approach that necessarily requires a more favorable investment environment, by implementing, for example, measures that reduce business burdens rather than increase them through excessive taxation. By easing these burdens, the State can expect to see businesses emerge that invest, develop, and create jobs, and which generate, in the long term, more income and tax revenue. Formalization must also be attractive, to convince entrepreneurs that they have an interest in entering the system rather than viewing taxation as an additional penalty. The principle is ultimately simple: it is better to distribute a reasonable burden across a broad base than to concentrate an excessive burden on a narrow base. The State will not necessarily gain more by taxing the same businesses further, which risk experiencing cash flow problems or even disappearing from the business circuit. Businesses more than ever want the tax administration to understand that excessive tax pressure amounts to a tax that kills taxation. R.Edmond