Tax effort differentials between Kenya and Nigeria 2002 – 2012
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Date
2015-04
Authors
Muthui, J. N.
Akims, K.
Mdoe, J. I.
Thuku, G. K.
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
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Abstract
Most developing countries are confronted with the need to provide/improve public infrastructure, education,
health services and so on toward enhancing economic development. To meet these budgetary demands, these
countries are increasingly focusing on domestic resource mobilization toward economic development. In this
context,it has become especially crucial for developing countries in sub-Sahara Africa (SSA) to have a modest
and efficient taxation system which can essentially supply sufficient internal resources thus, strengthening their
domestic revenue bases. This has resulted in many developing countries undertaking various reform programs to
improve tax policy and strengthen the taxing capacity of revenue administration. However, apart from the
primary objective to meet public spending needs, other reasons for taxation may include; smoothening the
cyclical volatility of economic growth; and (re) distributional aspects / improvement of equality. This paper used
Tax effort to highlight the differentials in tax system between Kenya and Nigeria for the period 2002 – 2012. Tax
effort is tax revenue, as a percentage of gross domestic products (GDP). That is, the tax to GDP ratio.
Generally, this ratio is used to identify a country’s overall tax efforts. The tax effort gives a general indication of
how a country is raising tax revenue relative to its given economic, structural potential and comparator
countries. The discussion in this paper shows that tax structure, quality of revenue authority institutions and size
of tax base directly influence tax effort whereas size of informal sector and trade openness are inversely related
to tax effort. The discussion further shows that the share of mining has offsetting effects on tax effort. However
for developing countries the urge to substitute taxes with resource revenue outweighs the dependence on taxation
due political reasons and bargaining power of firms involved.
Description
Research article
Keywords
Tax effort, Tax revenue, Gross domestic product
Citation
International Journal of Business and Social Science Vol. 6, No. 4(1); April 2015