Mass Taxation and State-Society Relations in East Africa

Poll (‘head'''') tax has been the most common form of direct mass taxation in many sub-Saharan African countries since colonial times. Until very recently it was a dominant source of revenue for local governments. It has been a source of tension and conflict between state authorities and rural people from the colonial period until today, and a major catalyst for many rural rebellions. By tracing the history of poll taxes in Tanzania and Uganda, the chapter examines how these taxes have impacted on state-society relations and why it has taken so long to abolish them. The authors'''' argue that insofar as poll taxes have contributed to democratization, this is not through the processes of state-society revenue bargaining, but by mobilizing rural people politically to combat a tax practice that they have experienced as repressive. As a result, the resentments caused by coercive local taxation have led central governments to abolish it

Wildlife Communication

This report contains a progress report for the ph.d. project titled “Wildlife Communication”. The project focuses on investigating how signal processing and pattern recognition can be used to improve wildlife management in agriculture. Wildlife management systems used today experience habituation from wild animals which makes them ineffective. An intelligent wildlife management system could monitor its own effectiveness and alter its scaring strategy based on this

Taxation, aid and democracy. An agenda for research in African countries

Taxation, aid and democracy are closely related in poor aid-dependent African countries. The way they tackle the issue of domestic revenue mobilisation significantly influences their potential for economic growth and democratic consolidation. This proposition is based on the reading of historical, political and economic literature, and it forms the general basis for a three-year research programme recently started. Namibia, Tanzania and Uganda are the case countries. The research aims to contribute to a better understanding of the evolution of tax systems in African countries. Furthermore, it aims to explore the constraints and options available for policy making on revenue mobilisation and democratisation. This paper presents the general outline of the research programme, and the major areas of research to be dealt with

Policies and finance for economic development and trade

East Africa is undergoing a natural resource boom that has the potential to reshape national economies and development aid in the region. Questions remain whether key Danish development partners, including Tanzania, Mozambique, and Uganda, can harness newfound oil, gas, and minerals for industrial development and poverty reduction or will fall into similar 'resource curse' tarps experienced by their counterparts in West Africa. What are the challenges facing East Africa resource-rich countries? Does aid have a role to play in this new and evolving environment? How will politics serve to strengthen or weaken how natural resources can ignite development? The new DIIS report Policies and finance for economic development and trade explores these questions on natural resource development and reviews recent aid for trade initiatives

Long-term effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on domestic resource mobilisation in sub-Saharan Africa

Since late 2019, the COVID-19 pandemic has been spreading globally. The pandemic has affected all aspects of global society and has caused specific challenges for both the government and private sectors in most countries. While we do not yet know the full impact of the pandemic on poor African countries, we already know that the impacts on economies, health conditions and politics are significant – and will continue to be substantial. In this brief, we discuss the long-term implications and effects of the pandemic on Domestic Resource Mobilisation in sub-Saharan Africa. The brief builds on the report Implications of the COVID-19 pandemic for revenue generation in poor African countries

Taxation, aid and democracy. An agenda for research in African countries

Taxation, aid and democracy are closely related in poor aid-dependent African countries. The way they tackle the issue of domestic revenue mobilisation significantly influences their potential for economic growth and democratic consolidation. This proposition is based on the reading of historical, political and economic literature, and it forms the general basis for a three-year research programme recently started. Namibia, Tanzania and Uganda are the case countries. The research aims to contribute to a better understanding of the evolution of tax systems in African countries. Furthermore, it aims to explore the constraints and options available for policy making on revenue mobilisation and democratisation. This paper presents the general outline of the research programme, and the major areas of research to be dealt with