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

Income Distribution in Tanzania: An Analysis of Trends

191 p.Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1983.By using the Gini coefficient, the study first measures the degree of household income inequality in Tanzania and demonstrates that inequality rose between 1969 and 1976/7. Second, the study attempts to explain changes in the level of income inequality in Tanzania. It is shown that urban household income inequality was higher with property income than without. Moreover, urban household income inequality rose faster over time with property income than without. In the rural areas, partly due to the small proportion of property owners and also due to the inability of this group to earn significantly higher incomes than the rest of the rural population, the impact of property income to household income distribution was fairly minimal.The study also demonstrates that in the urban areas household income inequality rose due to rising rates of inflation. In the rural areas, partly due to the role of subsistence consumption and also due to the composition of the consumption baskets of different income groups, the redistributive impact of inflation was insignificant.Finally, it is demonstrated that, even though the Tanzanian personal income tax structure is progressive, its redistributive impact is reduced by rising rates of inflation. On this basis, it is shown that the formulation of an effective redistribution policy requires that tools of redistribution should be considered in the form of a package. A redistribution policy which treats individual redistributive factors as independent and sufficient redistributive tools is inadequate and may produce undesirable results.U of I OnlyRestricted to the U of I community idenfinitely during batch ingest of legacy ETD

Local government taxation and tax administration in Tanzania

Local taxes represent less than 5 per cent of total tax revenues in Tanzania. However, the large number of these taxes, together with their unsatisfactory nature, means that their economic, political and social impacts are considerably more significant than their figure implies. This report reviews the main characteristics and impacts of the existing local tax system. It discusses how the present tax system emerged, and why it has been maintained for such a long period in spite of all its weaknesses. Furthermore, it considers options for reform. An important component of the ongoing decentralisation reform in Tanzania is to increase the fiscal autonomy of local authorities. This policy is encouraged and partly initiated by the donor community. The above findings suggest that care must be taken in implementing this policy. It is unrealistic to expect that the present administration in many local authorities has adequate capacity and the required integrity to manage increased fiscal autonomy. In fact, there is a real danger that in the absence of substantial restructuring of the current tax system combined with capacity building and improved integrity, increased autonomy will raise mismanagement and corruption

Why people pay taxes. The case of the development levy in Tanzania

This study sheds some light on some of the factors underlying tax compliance in local authorities in Tanzania with the help of original survey data. We use the experience of the poll tax (locally named "development levy" ) as our case. The survey data indicate that tax compliance seems to be positively related to ability to pay, the (perceived) probability of being prosecuted, and the number of tax evaders known personally to the respondent. Severe sanctions, including strict enforcement and harassment of taxpayers, and discontent with what people feel they get in re turn from the government roay increase tax resistance, and, thus contribute to explain the widespread evasion observed