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Showing 1-12 of 184 Blogs
blurred man holding his ID in focus to the camera.
November 2022|
Blog

Identity issues: four challenges for digital IDs in Africa’s tax systems

by Celeste Scarpini, Fabrizio Santoro & Moyo Arewa

From streamlining primary healthcare to amplifying agricultural outcomes, digital IDs matter. Here are some of the reasons why……

Ugandan landscape shot with a small hut in left foreground, lakes centre and right background and a yellow sign that read mobile money airtime selling in front of the hut
October 2022|
Blog

How should Africa’s digital payments be taxed?

by Philip Mader

Africa’s governments need tax revenue to fund everything from education and social welfare to paying international debts. No wonder governments are eyeing digital financial services (DFS) – a rapidly growing, highly profitable industry – for additional revenue….

woman at a mobile money street stall in Tanzania
October 2022|
Blog

Tanzania to waive electronic money transfer levy, except on mobile money?

by Hannelore Niesten

From 1st October 2022 Tanzania eliminated the levies on certain electronic money transfers, but not on mobile money….

Red vodafone mobile money kiosk in Ghana
October 2022|
Blog

New data on the e-levy in Ghana: unpopular tax on mobile money transfers is hitting the poor hardest

by Max Gallien, Mike Rogan, Nana Akua Anyidoho & Vanessa van den Boogaard

In Ghana, the “e-levy” has been linked to the current administration’s “Ghana Beyond Aid” strategy for reducing aid dependence….

flags of East African Community countries
September 2022|
Blog

Mobile-money taxation in East Africa: Harmonisation or laissez-faire?

by Hannelore Niesten

Regional tax harmonisation is controversial, with compelling arguments for and against. Is it desirable? Or beneficial? And if so, to whom?…

August 2022|
Blog

How the Taliban’s more effective and ‘fairer’ tax system helped it win control of Afghanistan

by Ashley Jackson

When the Taliban dramatically gained control of Afghanistan in August 2021, they used bombs and guns to swiftly overcome state security forces. But they also had another valuable and effective weapon at their disposal: taxes….

elderly african woman and young black man using phone and credit card
August 2022|
Blog

Ghana’s new e-levy: the sour, sweet and switches so far

by Awa Diouf, Fabrizio Santoro & Mary Abounabhan

Introduced in May 2022, Ghana’s e-levy is a 1.5 per cent tax on the transfer amount of electronic transactions. The objective is to improve tax revenues by tapping into fast-growing digital financial services (DFS). However, many exemptions are applied to the tax design….

NextBillion EGM
August 2022|
Blog

To Tax or Not to Tax Mobile Money: The Impact on Digital Financial Services in Africa and Beyond

by Adrienne Lees & Philip Mader

“Designing better tax policies for DFS requires understanding the factors that enable using DFS, and its potential impacts” writes Adrienne Lees & Philip Mader in their first blog for the ICTD….

July 2022|
Blog

High fossil fuel prices are good for the planet – here’s how to keep them high while avoiding riots or hurting the poor

by Neil McCulloch

In the UK, it now costs more than £100 to fill up a typical family car with petrol, and oil prices could rise even further. But are such high prices for fossil fuels a bad thing?…

June 2022|
Blog

How will the E-levy impact the informal sector in Ghana?

by Philipa Birago Akuoko & Rhiannon McCluskey

The Electronic Transaction Levy (E-levy), a 1.5% tax on all electronic transactions, went into effect on the 1st of May amongst considerable uncertainty and controversy….

CHOGM2022_image_twitter
June 2022|
Blog

Why taxation should be high on the agenda for Commonwealth leaders

by Giulia Mascagni

Tax might not be the first thing that comes to mind but it is central to delivering much of the transformative change on the agenda in Kigali, from increasing women’s economic participation to youth entrepreneurship….

June 2022|
Blog

Taxes as collateral: to risk or de-risk?

by Martin Hearson & Mary Abounabhan

Ghana’s Electronic Transfer Levy (E-Levy), set into implementation on the 1st of May, has been met with heated public criticism….