Revenue reform and statebuilding in Anglophone Africa

Within the development field, tax administration reform is an area of relative success. Over the past two decades, the national revenue systems of most countries in anglophone Africa have undergone major reforms. These comprise, in particular, the introduction of Value Added Tax (VAT), the adoption of ‘advanced’ tax administration practices, and the creation of semiautonomous revenue authorities. What do these reforms imply for emerging patterns of politics and governance in anglophone Africa?

Considering this question this paper offers a number of conclusions:

• The impact of these reforms has been shaped by the broad context within which they were being implemented, especially the increasingly transnational character of many important policymaking relationships. Senior African revenue staff feature increasingly in transnational expert networks, and face a wider range of employment opportunities, public and private, both at home and abroad
   
• These revenue reforms have contributed only modestly to statebuilding - actual revenue collection has not increased much; improvements in organisational capacity have been concentrated at national and capital city level; pand some anticipated spillover benefits from improving the revenue collection apparatus have not been realised
   
• While these reforms have made it possible for governments to raise revenue from the private sector in a more ‘institutionalised, rule-bound' manner, they have also increased the possibility that the taxation system will be shaped by private sector interests, making it difficult for governments to raise the revenue that they claim they need.