Gender and Tax Compliance: Firm Level Evidence from Ethiopia

Developing countries often lack tax information and enforcement capacity necessary to effectively implement instruments of a modern tax system, such as VAT, income taxes and others. An alternative strategy to increase tax compliance, and thus revenue, in these countries may depend on the capacity of policymakers to harness individual’s civicmindedness, social norms, reciprocity and cultural values of trust (Prichard, Custers, Dom, Davenport and Roscitt 2019). To do so in an effective and targeted way, policymakers need clear evidence on how tax compliance correlates with key taxpayer characteristics, such as gender. However, such evidence remains limited in the Global South, particularly in Africa, and our study aims to fill this gap. In this study, we investigate the correlation between business owner’s gender and tax compliance in Ethiopian enterprises. We measure the tax compliance of businesses from tax audit registry data and combine it with survey data collected from 408 enterprises. Our results suggest that enterprises’ tax compliance behaviour is significantly affected by their owners’ gender: female owned enterprises are more likely to be tax compliant than those owned by men. The correlation between the owner’s gender and tax compliance also becomes stronger as enterprises get larger in size. The results of our study imply that development-related polices, especially in the area of tax administration and compliance, should consider the behavioural variation among male and female business owners. Moreover, improving the participation of women in business in the country may also enhance equity and tax revenue collection for better resource mobilisation and development

Africa's Quest for Reform of the United Nations Security Council: A Just Cause Curbed by Unrealistic Proposals

The debate around viable global governance has become increasingly topical, particularly from the perspective of countries in the Global South. Concerning Africa, despite the continent's quest to reform the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), existing research has failed to comprehensively address the topic. Consequently, this article explores the arguments and challenges surrounding Africa's drive to secure a permanent voice in the UNSC. It argues that despite the enduring legacies of colonialism, neocolonial interventions, and being the primary concern of the UNSC agenda, Africa's claim for fair representation in the Council remains. The article attempts to address the research gap and contribute to the existing debate by examining why Africa has failed to be represented in the UNSC. Africa's collective initiative towards reforming the UN system is instrumental in ensuring inclusive and sustainable global governance. Nonetheless, Africa's insistence on immediate and full veto power for new entrants and its demand for representation merely through numbers inside the UN are unfeasible

Presumptive Taxation and Equity: Evidence from the Ethiopian Informal Sector

Presumptive tax has become a popular way of taxing businesses operating in the informal sector across middle- and low-income countries. However, evidence on the unintended effects of presumptive tax systems is scant and the effects themselves are not yet clearly known. Presumptive taxation in general has been much criticised, and public outcry and complaints have emerged due to its alleged unfairness and a lack of clarity in its implementation. The case of Ethiopia is no different. It is expected that a simple imposition of the presumptive tax system to tax the informal sector without considering stylised facts in the sector would have various negative consequences, especially in terms of the repercussions on equity. This study examines the issue empirically in the case of Ethiopia and is probably the first study of its kind in the country. We explore the equity implications of the presumptive tax system to tax the informal sector in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. We also critically evaluate income distribution among informal sector operators considering various social stratifiers such as gender. The main dataset we use to address our research questions is the informal micro enterprise (IME) survey data collected by BAN-Development Research Centre for Excellence (BAN-DRCE) in collaboration with Stichting Nederlandse Vrijwilligers (SNV) Ethiopia from Addis Ababa in 2021. Employing descriptive analysis and a representative taxpayer approach, we find that informal sector taxation using the turnover-based presumptive tax system would be both horizontally and vertically inequitable. Our analysis shows that about 44 per cent of informal sector businesses which participated in the survey earn below the minimum formal sector business income tax threshold. Most of these 44 per cent of businesses are owned by women. The plausible reasons for the inequitable taxation of the informal sector are the complexity of how the presumptive tax burden is determined, and lack of clarity on this process. Therefore, the presumptive tax system in Ethiopia requires a serious discussion that extends up to revision

E-tax System Adoption and Tax Compliance in Ethiopia: Large and Medium Taxpayers' Experience

In the last decade, tax administrations in developing countries have been introducing technological innovations such as e-filing and e-payment platforms. The main aim of introducing these technologies is to improve tax compliance and boost revenue collection by increasing convenience and flexibility for taxpayers and reducing their compliance costs. E-filing and e-payment could save taxpayers time preparing and returning taxes and reduce errors and opportunities for corruption. However, the adoption of these technologies and their effectiveness in improving tax compliance could be undermined by several factors. Using tax administrative records, we examined the adoption rate trend of the e-filing system and the correlation between e-filing adoption and tax compliance of large and medium taxpayers in Ethiopia. The timeliness of value-added tax (VAT) and corporate income tax (CIT) return filing and the amount of tax declared are the two main compliance indicators used in this study. Furthermore, we explored the existing challenges and the way forward to improve the adoption of the e-tax system using focus group discussions (FGDs)