IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/chm/wpaper/wp2002-3.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Fighting fiscal corruption: The case of the Tanzania Revenue Authority

Author

Listed:
  • Odd-Helge Fjeldstad

Abstract

Over the last decade several African countries have undertaken comprehensive reforms of their tax administrations, with the aims of increasing revenue and curbing corruption. This paper examines recent experiences in the fight against corruption in the Tanzania Revenue Authority. Two lessons of broader relevance are highlighted. Firstly, even with relatively high wages and good working conditions, corruption may continue to thrive. In a situation where there is high demand for corrupt services, it is unrealistic to provide tax officers with pay rates that can compensate for the amount gained through bribery. Without extensive and effective monitoring wage increases may produce a highly paid but also highly corrupt tax administration. Secondly, hiring and firing procedures may lead to more corruption. Corrupt tax officers often operate in networks, which also include external actors. The manner in which the administrative reform was implemented in Tanzania, where many of those fired were recruited to the private sector as 'tax experts', seems to have strengthened the corruption networks. This partly explains why the positive process experienced in the initial phase of the new revenue authority was later reversed.

Suggested Citation

  • Odd-Helge Fjeldstad, 2002. "Fighting fiscal corruption: The case of the Tanzania Revenue Authority," CMI Working Papers WP 2002:3, CMI (Chr. Michelsen Institute), Bergen, Norway.
    • Handle: RePEc:chm:wpaper:wp2002-3
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.cmi.no/publications/file/779-fighting-fiscal-corruption.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Chand, Sheetal K. & Moene, Karl O., 1999. "Controlling Fiscal Corruption," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 27(7), pages 1129-1140, July.
    2. Fjeldstad, O.H., 2001. "Fiscal Decentralisation in Tanzania: For Better of for Worse?," Papers 2001:10, Universitat Zurich - Wirtschaftswissenschaftliches Institut.
    3. Hindriks, Jean & Keen, Michael & Muthoo, Abhinay, 1999. "Corruption, extortion and evasion," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(3), pages 395-430, December.
    4. Alm, James & Bahl, Roy & Murray, Matthew N, 1991. "Tax Base Erosion in Developing Countries," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 39(4), pages 849-872, July.
    5. Fjeldstad, Odd-Helge & Tungodden, Bertil, 2003. "Fiscal Corruption: A Vice or a Virtue?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 31(8), pages 1459-1467, August.
    6. Ms. Janet Gale Stotsky & Ms. Asegedech WoldeMariam, 1997. "Tax Effort in Sub-Saharan Africa," IMF Working Papers 1997/107, International Monetary Fund.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Roel Dom, 2017. "Semi-Autonomous Revenue Authorities in Sub-Saharan Africa: Silver Bullet or White Elephant," Discussion Papers 2017-01, University of Nottingham, CREDIT.
    2. Bjorvatn, Kjetil & Torsvik, Gaute & Tungodden, Bertil, 2004. "How middle-men can undermine anti-corruption reforms," Working Papers in Economics 12/04, University of Bergen, Department of Economics.
    3. Lund, Jens Friis & Treue, Thorsten, 2008. "Are We Getting There? Evidence of Decentralized Forest Management from the Tanzanian Miombo Woodlands," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 36(12), pages 2780-2800, December.
    4. Malay Biswas, 2017. "Are They Efficient in the Middle? Using Propensity Score Estimation for Modeling Middlemen in Indian Corporate Corruption," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 141(3), pages 563-586, March.
    5. AfDB AfDB, 2005. "Working Paper 82 - Public Sector Management in Africa," Working Paper Series 2296, African Development Bank.
    6. Auriol, Emmanuelle & Warlters, Michael, 2012. "The marginal cost of public funds and tax reform in Africa," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(1), pages 58-72.
    7. AfDB AfDB, 2005. "Working Paper 82 - Public Sector Management in Africa," Working Paper Series 2216, African Development Bank.
    8. von Soest, Christian, 2006. "How Does Neopatrimonialism Affect the African State? The Case of Tax Collection in Zambia," GIGA Working Papers 32, GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies.
    9. World Bank, 2004. "Investment Climate Assessment : Improving Enterprise Performance and Growth in Tanzania," World Bank Publications - Reports 14413, The World Bank Group.
    10. Auriol, Emmanuelle & Warlters, Michael, 2006. "The Marginal Cost of Public Funds in Developing Countries: An Application to 38 African Countries," CEPR Discussion Papers 6007, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    11. Espen Villanger, 2003. "Company influence on foreign aid disbursement: Is conditionality credible when donors have mixed motives?," CMI Working Papers WP 2003:4, CMI (Chr. Michelsen Institute), Bergen, Norway.
    12. Mwakalobo, Adam B. S., 2015. "Revenue Generation Capacity in Developing Countries: Implications for Physical and Human Capital Development in Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda," African Journal of Economic Review, African Journal of Economic Review, vol. 3(1), January.
    13. Hasker, Kevin & Okten, Cagla, 2008. "Intermediaries and corruption," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 67(1), pages 103-115, July.
    14. Odd-Helge Fjeldstad, 2002. "The fight against corruption and the role of parliamentarians," CMI Working Papers WP 2002:6, CMI (Chr. Michelsen Institute), Bergen, Norway.
    15. Fredriksson, Anders, 2014. "Bureaucracy intermediaries, corruption and red tape," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 256-273.
    16. Epaphra, Manamba, 2015. "Tax Rates and Tax Evasion: Evidence from Missing Imports in Tanzania," MPRA Paper 62328, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    17. von Soest, Christian, 2006. "Measuring the Capability to Raise Revenue: Process and Output Dimensions and Their Application to the Zambia Revenue Authority," GIGA Working Papers 35, GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies.
    18. Espen Villanger, 2003. "Company interests and foreign aid policy: Playing donors out against each other," CMI Working Papers WP 2003:5, CMI (Chr. Michelsen Institute), Bergen, Norway.
    19. Mikhail Drugov & John Hamman & Danila Serra, 2014. "Intermediaries in corruption: an experiment," Experimental Economics, Springer;Economic Science Association, vol. 17(1), pages 78-99, March.
    20. Warlters, Michael & Auriol, Emmanuelle, 2005. "The marginal cost of public funds in Africa," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3679, The World Bank.
    21. Joseph R.A Ayee, 2005. "Working Paper 82 - Public Sector Management in Africa," Working Paper Series 217, African Development Bank.
    22. Fjeldstad, Odd-Helge, 2013. "Taxation and Development : A Review of Donor Support to Strengthen Tax Systems in Developing Countries," WIDER Working Paper Series 010, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Fjeldstad, Odd-Helge & Tungodden, Bertil, 2003. "Fiscal Corruption: A Vice or a Virtue?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 31(8), pages 1459-1467, August.
    2. Roy Cerqueti & Raffaella Coppier, 2015. "Corruptibility and tax evasion," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 39(2), pages 355-373, April.
    3. Ali, Merima & Fjeldstad, Odd-Helge & Sjursen, Ingrid Hoem, 2014. "To Pay or Not to Pay? Citizens’ Attitudes Toward Taxation in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, and South Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 828-842.
    4. Tahseen Ajaz & Eatzaz Ahmad, 2010. "The Effect of Corruption and Governance on Tax Revenues," The Pakistan Development Review, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, vol. 49(4), pages 405-417.
    5. Kodjo Adandohoin & Jean-Francois Brun, 2021. "The Role of Income and Property Taxes in Tax Transition and the Mediating Effect of Financial Development," Post-Print hal-03470540, HAL.
    6. Siongofolo Seydou Soro, 2020. "Institutional Quality and Tax Revenue in C te d Ivoire: Evidence from ARDL Approach," International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, Econjournals, vol. 10(6), pages 40-49.
    7. Katharina Gangl & Erich Kirchler & Christian Lorenz & Benno Torgler, 2015. "Wealthy Tax Non-Filers in a Developing Nation: The Roles of Taxpayer Knowledge, Perceived Corruption and Service Orientation in Pakistan," CREMA Working Paper Series 2015-08, Center for Research in Economics, Management and the Arts (CREMA).
    8. Kodjo Adandohoin, 2021. "Tax transition in developing countries: do value added tax and excises really work?," International Economics and Economic Policy, Springer, vol. 18(2), pages 379-424, May.
    9. Manamba Epaphra, & John Massawe,, 2017. "Corruption, governance and tax revenues in Africa," Business and Economic Horizons (BEH), Prague Development Center, vol. 13(4), pages 439-467, October.
    10. von Soest, Christian, 2006. "Measuring the Capability to Raise Revenue: Process and Output Dimensions and Their Application to the Zambia Revenue Authority," GIGA Working Papers 35, GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies.
    11. Bertrand LAPORTE & Gérard CHAMBAS & Jean-François BRUN, 2010. "IMF programs and tax effort What role for institutions in Africa?," Working Papers 201033, CERDI.
    12. Odd-Helge Fjeldstad, 2006. "Corruption in Tax Administration: Lessons from Institutional Reforms in Uganda," Chapters, in: Susan Rose-Ackerman (ed.), International Handbook on the Economics of Corruption, chapter 17, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    13. Kodjo Adandohoin & Jean-Francois Brun, 2020. "Are incomes and property taxes effective instruments for tax transition?," Working Papers hal-03053683, HAL.
    14. Dean Yang, 2008. "Integrity for Hire: An Analysis of a Widespread Customs Reform," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 51(1), pages 25-57, February.
    15. Petre Brezeanu & Sorin Celea & Ana Petrina Stanciu, 2011. "Forms of Tax Evasion in Romania. Analytical Perspective," Annals of the University of Petrosani, Economics, University of Petrosani, Romania, vol. 11(1), pages 33-42.
    16. Nelson Ramírez-Rondán & Saki Bigio, 2006. "Corruption and Development Indicators: An Empirical Review," Working Papers 2006-007, Banco Central de Reserva del Perú.
    17. Chand, Sheetal K. & Moene, Karl Ove & Mookherjee, Dilip, 2003. ""Fiscal Corruption: A Vice or a Virtue?"--A Comment," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 31(8), pages 1469-1472, August.
    18. Yawovi Mawussé Isaac Amedanou, 2021. "Politics, Institutions and Tax Revenue Mobilization in West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) Countries," CERDI Working papers hal-03255316, HAL.
    19. Yawovi Mawussé Isaac Amedanou, 2021. "Politics, Institutions and Tax Revenue Mobilization in West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) Countries," Working Papers hal-03255316, HAL.
    20. Jean-Bernard Chatelain & Kirsten Ralf, 2005. "Tax Evasion, Investors Protection and Corporate Governance," Money Macro and Finance (MMF) Research Group Conference 2005 65, Money Macro and Finance Research Group.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Corruption Tax evasion Tax administration Incentives;

    JEL classification:

    • H26 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Tax Evasion and Avoidance
    • H30 - Public Economics - - Fiscal Policies and Behavior of Economic Agents - - - General
    • J33 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Compensation Packages; Payment Methods
    • K42 - Law and Economics - - Legal Procedure, the Legal System, and Illegal Behavior - - - Illegal Behavior and the Enforcement of Law

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:chm:wpaper:wp2002-3. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Robert Sjursen (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cmiiino.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.