iKESRA Repository
Find and retrieve publications, range of materials, such as legislation, journal articles, books, theses, and other materials, which are helpful for research and informational purposes, particularly for those with an interest in taxation, customs, and fiscal policy.
Recent Submissions
Tax Awareness and Fiscal Workarounds in Contemporary Kenya: Reactions Towards New Taxation Laws, and the Need to Renew the Social Contract
(Institute of Development Studies, 2024-10) Magale, Eric; Schmidt, Mario
This working paper highlights the awareness and perception of taxes among ordinary Kenyans, with a particular focus on how they situate taxes in their wider universe of obligatory payments. The paper first describes how Kenyans understand the nature, social meaning, and importance of taxes and how these understandings changed during our research, which took place shortly after the enactment of the unpopular Finance Act 2023. The temporal proximity between the period of our data collection and the enactment of this law provided a rare and unique lens for a study of how ordinary citizens view taxes. Apart from exploring how rising taxes on digital financial services influenced economic behaviour among Kenyans occupying different economic classes, the paper also describes how these Kenyans increasingly made use of ‘fiscal workarounds’ to strategically avoid taxes whereby they clearly positioned themselves against some of the unpopular taxes forced down on them, citing the high cost of living and waning public confidence in the political leadership as their reasons. We conceptualise ‘fiscal workarounds’ as the idea that citizens do not simply accept or reject taxes but rather engage in practices that redefine, revise (albeit theoretically) and resist taxes depending on how they experience them. Although
not novel, these ‘fiscal workarounds’ were now increasingly justified by citizens who pointed to the political elite’s failure to fulfil their part of the social contract. The paper concludes by offering insights for policy adjustments that could help renew the social contract between Kenyan taxpayers and government as their agents.
The Potential of Digital ID Systems for Tax Administration: The Case of Ghana
(2024-12) Santoro, Fabrizio; Scarpini, Celeste; Okiya, Stephen
Digital identification systems (DIS) have great potential for strengthening tax administration. This paper examines the practical implications of integrating DIS with tax administration in Ghana. Studying system integration and data sharing between the Ghana Revenue Authority and the National Identification Agency, we evaluate the impact of replacing taxpayer identification numbers (TINs) with personal identification numbers (PINs) linked to a Ghana Card. By analysing administrative data and surveying 1,000 businesses in Accra, the study investigates registration patterns, tax perceptions and outcomes, and assesses improvements in data quality post-integration.
The findings reveal a significant increase in the number registered for tax following system integration, particularly female and younger taxpayers. The impact on revenue is uncertain, and there is mixed compliance observed for PIN-based registrations. Those registered for tax for the first time after integration perform much worse than taxpayers who were migrated from TIN to PIN. Tax payment significantly improves for PIN-based registrations, mainly due to the technical design of the e-payment platform. While integration improves data on taxpayers' addresses, it worsens that on the economic sector. The study also shows that there is no significant improvement in taxpayers’ attitudes and perceptions, despite simplified registration processes.
Taxation of Fisheries in Kenya: Neither Improving Management nor Raising Revenue?
(Institute of Development Studies, 2024-08) Occhiali, Giovanni; Okello, Olivia
The Kenyan government believes fisheries have significant potential for development. Yet their development faces many challenges – some of which are connected to a lack of the data needed to ensure their effective management. We do not, for example, have reliable information on the total annual catch. It is therefore impossible to establish whether the existing system of levies and charges is broadly right from the perspective of revenue collection and long-term sustainability of fisheries. This study uses a review of guiding legal documents, in-depth interviews, and analysis of data on domestic taxes collected by the Kenya Revenue Authority.
We conclude that the current taxation of fisheries in Kenya does not contribute to either their effective management or generating revenue. This is due to a combination of: (a) a fragmented regulatory and legislative environment, leading to unclear institutional mandates; (b) the inappropriate use of levies and charges purely to raise revenue rather than to ensure sustainable harvests; (c) little attention to sector compliance with general tax obligations, including registration, filing, and payment of taxes such as income tax or value added tax (VAT). These problems are deep-rooted, and connected to the existing legal, institutional, and operational framework. There are some immediate policy steps that could be taken to realise more of the potential for development of the sector. These include ensuring better coordination between national and county-level governments and institutions, and focusing efforts to enforce tax collection on the richest actors in the value chain.