La plupart des opérateurs économiques en Afrique sont des petites entreprises informelles relevant de régimes d’imposition forfaitaires, également appelés régimes simplifiés d’imposition (RSI). Ces régimes visent à remplir diverses fonctions, allant de la mobilisation des recettes à la facilitation de la formalisation et à l’amélioration des données dont disposent les administrations fiscales. Pourtant, leur efficacité et leurs effets demeurent insuffisamment documentés. Des données récentes indiquent que les RSI génèrent souvent des recettes limitées, qu’ils peuvent peser de manière régressive sur les opérateurs à faibles revenus et qu’ils sont appliqués de façon inégale. Ce bulletin politique présente une synthèse de ce que nous savons des RSI en Afrique, de leur mise en œuvre et de leur importance, tout en soulignant les lacunes dans les connaissances existantes. Il soutient qu’il est nécessaire d’engager un nouveau débat politique sur la fiscalité simplifiée, fondé sur des données probantes et des éléments factuels.
Max Gallien is a Research Fellow at ICTD. His research specialises in the politics of informal and illegal economies, the political economy of the Middle East and North Africa and development politics. He completed his PhD at the London School of Economics. Max co-leads the informality and taxation programme with Vanessa, as well as the ICTD’s capacity building programme.
Hitomi Komatsu is a tax economist in the Fiscal Policy Unit of the World Bank. She has published journal articles and book chapters on tax policy and women’s time use and labor. Formerly, she was a Programme Manager at the United Nations Capital Development Fund, where she managed fiscal decentralization projects in Africa and Asia, a Programme Officer at the United Nations Development Programme in Malawi, and a consultant for the United Nations Statistical Office and the International Food Policy Research Institute. Hitomi holds a B.Sc. in Economics from University College London and a Ph.D. in Economics from American University.
Ceren Ozer is Senior Economist in the Fiscal Policy Unit, Economic Policy, with the World Bank. She programme manages the Global Tax Program and the Platform for Collaboration on Tax.
Michael Rogan is a Research Associate in WIEGO’s Urban Policies Programme. His work centres on statistical analyses of earnings and status in employment in the informal economy, and he leads WIEGO’s research on taxation in the informal economy. Based at Rhodes University in South Africa, Michael works in the Neil Aggett Labour Studies Unit and is an Associate Professor in the Department of Economics & Economic History. He holds a BA in international studies from the University of Washington in Seattle and an MA and PhD in development studies from the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa.
Vanessa van den Boogaard is a Research Fellow at ICTD and a Senior Research Associate at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy at the University of Toronto. She completed her PhD thesis on informal revenue generation and statebuilding in Sierra Leone, and has ongoing research on the topic in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana, and Somalia. Vanessa co-leads ICTD's research programme on informality and tax.
Citation: Gallien, M. et al. (2025) Fiscalité simplifiée en Afrique : état des connaissances et pistes de recherche, Bulletin Politique no 15 de l’ICTD, Brighton: Institute of Development Studies, DOI : 10.19088/ICTD.2026.004
