ICTD Working Paper 72

Wealthy people contribute a significant share of the total revenue collected through personal income tax (PIT) in high-income countries. This is not the case in most low-income countries, where the bulk of revenue from PIT is collected from people who are in formal employment, especially in the public sector. In most cases, PIT is collected by employers and remitted to the tax authority. The problem is not an absence of laws providing for the taxation of wealthy individuals (commonly referred to as High Net Worth Individuals (HNWIs)). Rather, these laws are rarely implemented. On the one hand, this results in losses of income tax revenue, and on the other, in severe inequity in the distribution of the tax burden. Successfully levying PIT on HNWIs requires a special organisational effort on the part of the tax authority.

Authors

Jalia Kangave

Jalia Kangave holds a PhD in Law from the University of British Columbia, and has over decade of experience in the fields of taxation, law, and international development. She previously served as the Principal of the East African School of Taxation in Uganda, worked as a tax consultant for PricewaterhouseCoopers Uganda, and was a Research Fellow at the Institute of Development Studies. Dr Kangave is the lead consultant for the International Centre for Tax and Development’s research programme on gender and taxation.

Susan Nakato

Ronald Waiswa

Ronald Waiswa is a Research and Policy Analysis Supervisor at the Uganda Revenue Authority. He has collaborated with the ICTD on a number of research projects in Uganda on issues including taxing wealthy individuals and public sector agencies.

Milly Isingoma Nalukwago

Patrick Lumala Zzimbe

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