African governments are trying to collect more tax

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