REVENUE DEPENDS ON WILL TO PAY

SANDTON – The ability of a revenue authority to collect tax depends on people’s willingness to pay.

The African Tax Administration Forum (ATAF) has observed that attitudes towards tax remain very different from one country to another and were also shaped by levels of taxation and the way revenue is used.
It was pointed out that the Afrobarometer survey afforded insights into such attitudes in 34 African countries, which included 18 ATO countries (such as all of them except Gambia, Rwanda or Seychelles).

The first question that Afrobarometer asked respondents was whether they agreed with the statement, “Citizens must pay their taxes to the government for (their) country to develop.”
The greatest compliance came from Liberia and Senegal, where 80.5 per cent respondents agreed or agreed strongly.

In Lesotho, where only 32.2 per cent said yes, willingness to pay taxes was by far the lowest.
Interestingly, both Lesotho and Senegal had high tax-revenue-to-Growth Domestic Product (GDP) ratios, so attitudes towards taxation could not be the main explanation of differences in tax-to- GDP ratios.
It was also stated that Ali, Fjeldstad and Sjursen (2014) used the 2011/12 Afrobarometer to examine factors determining citizens’ tax-compliance attitudes in Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa and Uganda.
“It was found that they were positively correlated with the provision of public services and people’s knowledge and awareness of tax,” noted ATAF.

Swaziland Revenue Authority (SRA) Director, Communications Vusi Dlamini concurred that that it was possibly true that willingness to pay was a key element.
He mentioned that willingness to pay just does not come by itself, someone needs to encourage the taxpayer to pay, meaning many other elements were important.
“As revenue administration, our core role is to educate and ensure that it’s easier for the taxpayer to pay, that is removal of all impediments affecting voluntary compliance.
“The attitude of the tax officials should be the right one, and the systems should be there to facilitate payment.
“On the flip-side of the coin, of course governments need to demonstrate what the tax does,” said Dlamini.

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