While it is widely accepted that tax compliance will depend on levels of voluntary compliance, levels of enforcement and political variables and connections, little research is able to map those dynamics in detail. We draw on access to complete compliance information for a reform in Freetown, Sierra Leone, merged with a variety of political and socio-economic variables, in order to map the spatial, temporal and socio-economic-political patterns of compliance in the city.

Researchers

Wilson Prichard

Wilson Prichard is an Associate Professor at the University of Toronto, a Research Fellow at the Institute of Development Studies, Chair of the Local Government Revenue Initiative (LoGRI) and former Executive Officer of the International Centre for Tax and Development (2020-2024). His research focuses on the relationship between taxation and citizen demands for improved governance in sub-Saharan Africa.

Abou Bakarr Kamara

Abou Bakarr Kamara is a Country Economist for the International Growth Centre (IGC) Liberia and Sierra Leone. He is an economist with over 10 years experience in both research and policy.

Niccoló Meriggi

Niccoló Meriggi is a country economist for IGC (International Growth Centre) Sierra Leone. He has been working in Sierra Leone for three years, where he has been engaging and advising government on the implementation of development programmes, strategies to evaluate programme implementation, and the use of lessons learnt from these programmes.

Kevin Grieco

Kevin Grieco is a PhD Candidate in Political Science at the University of California, Los Angeles. He studies how low-capacity governments raise taxes and enforce policies. His current work focuses on fiscal capacity and traditional political institutions in Sierra Leone, collects original quantitative and qualitative data, uses field experiments to answer causal questions, and involves collaborations with local government and civil society partners.

Julian Michel

Julian Michel is a PhD student in Comparative Politics at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA). He has a range of research projects on topics such as taxation, migration, populism & democratic backsliding, and identity politics.