Catch Them If You Can: The Politics and Practice of a Taxpayer Registration Exercise

Abstract

Tax registration drives have become an increasingly popular intervention to expand the coverage of tax nets across sub-Saharan Africa. Promising increased revenue for states and formalisation benefits for newly registered enterprises, the appeal of these interventions is intuitive. However, there is increasing evidence that registration drives do not lead to a substantial increase in revenue and disproportionately target lower income groups.