Tax Conversations Africa

Africa faces several challenges as it struggles to protect its own tax base in the face of renewed interest as a favourite destination for foreign investments. The race to attract foreign investments is emerging as a “race to the bottom”  as countries use harmful tax incentives or sign unsound double tax agreements that severely erode their tax bases and limit their taxing rights on corporate income.  TJNA promotes transparent national investment regimes that support DRM and prevent practices, such as the “race to the bottom”, which is characterised by harmful tax competition between African countries to attract foreign direct investment (FD).

The strategic driver under this thematic programme is the ineffective fiscal regime governing the extractive sector in resource rich African countries which results in inadequate mobilization of tax revenues from the extractives sector. Our goal is to achieve improved fiscal transparency and regulatory regimes in Africa’s extractive sector to curb outflows of financial resources. TJNA has been at the forefront in efforts to concretise the Africa Mining Vision and its adoption by countries across the continent in form of Country Mining Visions.

Tax abuse and IFFs from Africa occur within the context of the International Financial Architecture (IFA). The focus will be on fostering an inclusive and transparent global financial framework that curbs IFFs.  The prevailing global tax rules and the IFA, as currently constituted, create opportunities for corporations and wealthy individuals to exploit loopholes in the tax system to shift profits and stash wealth in low/no tax jurisdictions. TJNA’s work in this area will target beneficial ownership transparency, taxation o

Growing inequality and wealth concentration where half of the world’s wealth lies in the hands of just 1% of the population poses a serious threat to the global economy and undermines democracy. Existing flaws in international financial systems have significantly contributed to aggravating global inequality. This initiative aims at; (1) reducing unfair tax practices through evidence-based research and policy advocacy; (2) building capacity for monitoring fairness and transparency within the tax system and (3) influencing policies on revenue generation. Tax revenue remains the most reliable and sustainable source of finance to provide adequate social services. However, tax is not only a revenue collection tool.

In this final episode of a five-part series that looks at the Use of Research Evidence (URE) by Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in formulating fair tax policies in Africa, we take stock of all the lessons learnt by use of research evidence. A report launched by Tax Justice Network Africa (TJNA) and the Institute of Economics Justice (IEJ) in January 2022, reveals that it is not enough to simply generate good research. What does this mean? Join us in our last episode as we learn more about URE from Alvin Mosioma, Executive Director at TJNA and Gilad Isaacs, Director at the IEJ, hosted by Bezawit Mekonnen.

In this episode, we focus on Uganda which has in recent times engaged in re-looking its double taxation agreements with some of its trading partners. Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in Uganda have long called for renegotiations of Double Taxation Agreements (DTAs) to curb challenges of Illicit Financial Flows (IFFs) and to maximise domestic resource mobilisation. As a landlocked country in East Africa, Uganda depends on imports that mostly come through the Port of Mombasa in Kenya. For more insights, Ishmael Zulu our host is joined by Robert Ssuuna an independent consultant in Uganda at African Tax, Trade, and Investment Consult.

This episode looks at the concept of double taxation in Zambia, which is among the top five tobacco leaf growing countries in Africa. While taxation in general, is typically focused on revenue mobilisation, in Zambia the taxation of goods like tobacco is often instituted to also effect some kind of behavioural change as the harmful health impacts of smoking place an undue burden on the health system. Our guests for this episode are Rodgers Kidiya, Research and Advocacy Officer at Tax Justice Network Africa (TJNA), and Isaac Mwaipopo the Executive Director at The Centre for Trade Policy and Development (CTPD), hosted by Bezawit Mekonnen.

In this episode, we are putting a spotlight on the informal tax sector in Nigeria. The country’s informal sector is taxed by the local government. According to a report by Overseas Development Institute (ODI), it was concluded that the abundance of Nigeria’s natural resources (particularly oil and gas) probably limits public interest in domestic taxes. Bezawit Mekonnen hosts Chinedu Bassey, Program Manager at Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC).

This is the first episode of a five-part series, in which we look at the Use of Research Evidence (URE) by Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in formulating fair tax policies in Africa.  In this episode, we focus on Tunisia highlighting the tax incentive in the North most country in Africa. Between 2012 and 2017 Tunisian policymakers worked with the Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) to draft an amendment of the 1993 Investment Code law using research evidence produced over the years. Ishmael Zulu hosts Busi Sibeko a Researcher and the Budget Project Lead at the Institute of Economic Justice (IEJ) to help us to unpack this.