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Revenue Reform and Statebuilding in Anglophone Africa

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  • Moore, Mick

Abstract

Although increasingly justified in terms of statebuilding, recent tax reforms in anglophone Africa contributed only modestly to that goal. They have produced impressive tax agencies, but no detectable increases in revenue collections. They have not addressed some major deficiencies in tax policy and administration. The reforms have however helped improve the career prospects for senior African tax administrators and generated more movements of senior staff between tax agencies, the private sector, and international advisory work. These personnel changes have ambiguous implications for the development of revenue capacity in the long term.

Suggested Citation

  • Moore, Mick, 2014. "Revenue Reform and Statebuilding in Anglophone Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 99-112.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:60:y:2014:i:c:p:99-112
    DOI: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2014.03.020
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    Cited by:

    1. Urbain T. Yogo & Martine M. Ngo Njib, 2018. "Political Competition and Tax Revenues in Developing Countries," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(2), pages 302-322, March.
    2. Albers, Thilo N.H. & Jerven, Morten & Suesse, Marvin, 2023. "The Fiscal State in Africa: Evidence from a Century of Growth," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 77(1), pages 65-101, January.
    3. Abrams M.E. Tagem, 2017. "The economics and politics of foreign aid and domestic revenue," WIDER Working Paper Series 180, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    4. Romain Houssa & Kelbesa Megersa, 2017. "Institutional quality, economic development and the performance of VAT," BeFinD Working Papers 0115, University of Namur, Department of Economics.
    5. Oliver Morrissey & Christian Von Haldenwang & Armin Von Schiller & Maksym Ivanyna & Ingo Bordon, 2016. "Tax Revenue Performance and Vulnerability in Developing Countries," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 52(12), pages 1689-1703, December.
    6. Temesgen Worku & Juan P. Mendoza & Jacco L. Wielhouwer, 2016. "Tariff evasion in sub-Saharan Africa: the influence of corruption in importing and exporting countries," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 23(4), pages 741-761, August.
    7. Buettner, Thiess & Madzharova, Boryana, 2018. "WTO membership and the shift to consumption taxes," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 197-218.
    8. Ionel Bostan & Cristian Popescu & Costel Istrate & Ioan-Bogdan Robu, 2017. "The Impact of Taxation of the Domestic Economic Transactions on the Vat Collection Through Electronic Fiscal Devices," The AMFITEATRU ECONOMIC journal, Academy of Economic Studies - Bucharest, Romania, vol. 19(45), pages 581-581, May.
    9. Schmoll, Moritz, 2020. "Weak street-level enforcement of tax laws: the role of tax collectors’ persistent but broken public service expectations," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 104601, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    10. Fang, Hongsheng & Bao, Yuxin & Zhang, Jun, 2017. "Asymmetric reform bonus: The impact of VAT pilot expansion on China's corporate total tax burden," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 46(S), pages 17-34.
    11. Jahnke, Björn & Weisser, Reinhard A., 2019. "How does petty corruption affect tax morale in Sub-Saharan Africa?," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    12. Andrews, Matt, 2015. "Explaining Positive Deviance in Public Sector Reforms in Development," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 197-208.
    13. Björn Jahnke, 2017. "How does petty corruption affect tax morale in sub-Saharan Africa? An empirical analysis," WIDER Working Paper Series 008, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    14. Abrams M.E. Tagem, 2017. "The economics and politics of foreign aid and domestic revenue," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2017-180, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    15. Sam Hickey, 2019. "The politics of state capacity and development in Africa - Reframing and researching ‘pockets of effectiveness’," Global Development Institute Working Paper Series esid-117-19, GDI, The University of Manchester.
    16. Urbain T. Yogo1 & Martine M & Ngo Njib, 2016. "Political competition and tax revenues in developing countries," WIDER Working Paper Series 116, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).

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