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Informality and Tax

While research has historically focused on formal systems of taxation and user fees, there is mounting evidence of the importance of “informal” taxation for average taxpayers in much of Africa. While lying outside of statutory laws, the “tax-like” payments – which include informal user fees, informal contributions to community development projects, and informal payments to both state and non-state officials – impose a significant burden on many taxpayers, while playing a critical role in financing local public goods and services and shaping broader local governance. Our research aims to map the extent, composition and experiences of these payments, and to understand their implications for livelihoods, fiscal decentralisation, service delivery and broader local governance reform.

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Publications

Research in Brief

Mobile Money Taxation and Informal Workers: Evidence from Ghana’s E-Levy

September 2023
Nana Akua Anyidoho, Max Gallien, Mike Rogan & Vanessa van den Boogaard
Research in Brief

Beyond Greed: Why Armed Groups Tax

August 2023
Tanya Bandula-Irwin, Max Gallien, Ashley Jackson, Vanessa van den Boogaard & Florian Weigand
Research in Brief

Explaining Informal Taxation and Revenue Generation: Evidence from south-central Somalia

August 2023
Vanessa van den Boogaard & Fabrizio Santoro
Research in Brief

Between God, the People, and the State: Citizen Conceptions of Zakat

August 2023
Max Gallien, Umair Javed & Vanessa van den Boogaard
Research in Brief

Rethinking Formalisation: A Conceptual Critique and Research Agenda

August 2023
Max Gallien & Vanessa van den Boogaard
Research in Brief

Catch Them If You Can: The Politics and Practice of a Taxpayer Registration Exercise

August 2023
Max Gallien, Giovanni Occhiali & Vanessa van den Boogaard
See all Related Publications

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Related blogs

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Tax official registers a female small business owner on the street
July 2023|
Blog

Helping Politicians to Break Bad Tax Habits

by Mick Moore

Politicians have many bad tax habits. These include using tax inspections to punish political opponents; ensuring…

Ethiopia - Planting Avocado Trees in Katbare - July 2011
July 2023|
Blog

Informal Taxation in Ethiopia: Typologies, Prospects, and Challenges

by Misganaw Gashaw Beza & Geremew Worku

Formal tax and non-tax revenue sources, which are estimated to account for 50 to 80% of…

Andrew Kayanu Traffic Check ATM painting
June 2023|
Blog

Roadblocks and revenues: new geographies of taxation in conflict

by Mina Radončić & Markus Geray

Checking out checkpoints The DIIS, together with the ICTD and the Centre on Armed Groups, hosted…

Man working at computer
May 2023|
Blog

The promise and limitations of information technology for tax mobilisation

by Oyebola Okunogbe, Fabrizio Santoro & Celeste Scarpini

As digital technologies continue to gain momentum in lower-income countries, tax authorities are increasingly adopting technology solutions to improve their core functions and to collect revenue more efficiently….

Two market traders walking by cars with baskets of goods over their heads
March 2023|
Blog

Ghana’s e-levy is unfair to the poor and misses its revenue target: a lesson in mobile money tax design

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

The levy’s effects – on Ghana’s public finances, its poor, mobile money usage –have been at the centre of intense and polarising public conversations, much of it without empirical basis….

Ghana: A woman carries fruit on her head as she passes a mobile money stand in the Tesano neighborhood.
February 2023|
Blog

The Ghana e-levy: Can the latest rate reduction win greater public acceptance and increase revenue?

by Awa Diouf, Alex Ampaabeng, Mary Abounabhan & Hannelore Niesten

The reduced tax rate on electronic transactions is unlikely to satisfy Ghanaians given the country’s rising inflation…

Research Projects

Current Project

Aiding the War & Neglecting Citizens: International Donor Policy

Matthew Benson
Current Project

Not-so-freeway- informal taxation and the everyday cost of conflict in Northeast India

Shalaka Thakur
Current Project

Taxpayer engagement and government accountability in Kenya

Brian Wampler & Michael Touchton
Current Project

Informal taxation and gender in the informal economy in Accra

Max Gallien, Institute of Development Studies & Vanessa van den Boogaard, University of Toronto
Current Project

Assessing the capability of market vendors in promoting good tax governance in local councils in Malawi

Tizgowere Msiska & Masauko Thawe
Completed Project

Taliban Taxation System in Afghanistan

Rahmatullah Amiri & Ashley Jackson
See all Related Projects
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+44 (0) 1273 606261
International Centre for Tax and Development, Institute of Development Studies (IDS) Brighton, BN1 9RE, United Kingdom
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