Local Taxes and ICTs in Uganda

Abstract

In Uganda, corruption, bribery, low-quality services, the exclusion of citizens from managing public expenditure and the mobilisation of revenues triggered tax evasion, tax avoidance and protests for a long time. As a result, the government recently digitalised its systems of revenue extraction in local urban authorities. In fact, this study’s empirical findings show that the idea of digitalising local urban fiscal institutions in Uganda has strengthened not only the formalisation of the informal sector, but also the provision of public services and citizen participation, and has moreover alleviated the avoidance and evasion of taxes and fiscal leakages.

Andrew Matsiko is a beneficiary of the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES) Grant for his PhD research in political science at Münster University. He lectured at Bugema University, Uganda and is a member of IPSA: Research Committee 05: Comparative Studies on Local Government and Research Committee 10: Electronic Democracy. Andrew Matsiko’s research interests include state building and taxation, local comparative and regional politics, comparative research methods, digitalisation and hybrid political participation.