Completed Project

Taxation of High Net Worth Individuals in Sierra Leone

Between 2010 and 2015, personal income taxes (PIT) constituted an average of 26.5% of the total revenue collected by the National Revenue Authority (NRA) of Sierra Leone. 86% of the PIT collected in 2015 was from Pay As You Earn (PAYE). The remaining 14% was split between withholding taxes on personal income (9%), rental income (2%) and other income (3%). In 2019, the contribution of PAYE to PIT had increased to 91.7%. This high reliance on PAYE raises some equity concerns. It suggests that most of the PIT is collected from individuals in formal employment (such as government employees and employees in large private sector companies) who earn relatively modest incomes. Meanwhile, high income professionals and other wealthy individuals remain largely untaxed.

Researchers

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.

Giovanni Occhiali

Dr Giovanni Occhiali is a Development Economist based at the Institute of Development Studies, where he works on a number of projects related to Tax Administration and Compliance, Tax and Governance and co-leads ICTD’s capacity building programme together with Dr Max Gallien. His research focuses on Sub-Saharan Africa, and outside of the field of taxation his main interests are energy economics and industrial policies. He holds a PhD from the University of Birmingham and prior to joining ICTD, he was a Researcher at the Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei and an Overseas Development Institute Fellow at the National Revenue Authority of Sierra Leone.

Ishmail Kamara

Ishmail Kamara is an economist in the Monitoring, Research, and Planning Department at the National Revenue Authority of Sierra Leone, where he works on various tax administrative and research projects, as well as assisting in development of the department focus. He holds a Master degree in economic policy and analysis from Addis Ababa University.
Research theme: ,

Project Outputs

Working Paper
How Might the National Revenue Authority of Sierra Leone Enhance Revenue Collection by Taxing High Net Worth Individuals?
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