They can no longer rely on aid or natural resources

What is it like being a taxman in Africa? “A lot of sleepless nights,” says Yankuba Darboe, the Gambia’s top revenue official, describing the pressure to meet targets. Politicians across Africa are asking ever more of their tax collectors, with good reason.

The biggest hole in public coffers is not money squandered or stolen, but that which is never collected in the first place.

Government revenues average about 17% of gdp in sub-Saharan Africa, according to the imf. Nigeria has more than 300 times as many people as Luxembourg, but collects less tax. If Ethiopia shared out its tax revenues equally, each citizen would get around $80 a year.

Uncollected taxes, not money squandered or stolen, are responsible for the biggest hole in public coffers in Africa.⁠

Nigeria has more than 300 times as many people as Luxembourg, but collects less tax.⁠

Out of 71 Ugandan government officials, just one paid any personal income tax in 2013/14.⁠

Taxation has not been taken seriously before—and so it has been very easy to tax-dodge in some African nations.

To read the entire article, click here: African governments are trying to collect more tax

Source: The Economist

Three-and-a-half years after Britons backed Brexit, the PM’s Withdrawal Agreement Bill is set to get royal assent and become law.

Boris Johnson’s Brexit bill has cleared its final parliamentary hurdle, enabling Britain to leave the EU at the end of this month.

Three-and-a-half years after Britons backed Brexit in the 2016 referendum, the prime minister’s Withdrawal Agreement Bill is set to be given royal assent and become law in the coming days.

Mr Johnson’s deal still needs to be ratified by the European Parliament ahead of Brexit day.

But barring unforeseen circumstances, Britain’s 47-year membership of the bloc will come to an end next Friday.

Furnished with a large Commons majority in the wake of his general election victory, the PM steered the bill through the lower chamber earlier this month.

It then went to the Lords, with peers in the upper chamber passing a number of amendments to the bill.

Among them was an amendment from Labour peer Lord Dubs, calling for the restoration of the right of unaccompanied child refugees to be reunited with their families in the UK post-Brexit.

Yesterday and today I have been on management team meeting in the Gothernjurg archepelago.

We have discussed the planning for 2020, which will be an exiting year for our company.

We are now 850 Customs and Border experts working from offices in 13 countries.

We are a fast growing company and it is always important to organize the cooperation through all parts of our company to be able to deliver the best possible services and products to our clinets.

I am comvinced that 2020 will be our best year ever. Just like 2019.