Democratic dialogue for progressive taxation to fight inequality

Africa is home to 7 of the 10 most inequal countries in the world, and on the continent, the 6 richest countries own more than 50% of the countries combined. The consequences of extreme inequality reach far: It weakens democratic institutions, slows economic growth and makes fighting poverty significantly harder. Besides that, economic inequality deepens and reinforces gender and other social inequalities.

It does not have to be this way. It is possible to create more equal societies, but it requires governments to act against corruption and reform international tax and debt systems, that are unjust to the world’s poorest countries.

There are challenges such as weak public administration, low taxpayer compliance, corruption and a discrepancy between taxes collected and public and social expenditures. In addition, economic austerity, often resulting from conditionalities imposed by International Financial Institutions, undermines already vulnerable democracies, where free and independent media are often not able to operate as they should and citizens lack basic tools to hold decision-makers accountable for just taxation.

It is clear though, that the citizens of African countries are unhappy about the missing accountability. A study on 40 African countries shows, that 82% of the citizens say that their government is performing poorly in reducing inequality.

The project

With funds from NORAD, we work to strengthen the national dialogue between citizens and the government on progressive taxation to fight inequality.

The project aims to reach more than 5 million citizens through activities across Africa, primarily in Ghana, Kenya and Uganda. The project is implemented in close collaboration with local partners and focus on supporting revenue authorities’ capacity in taxing the super-rich, while contributing to a global movement for progressive taxation, with strong African voices. Through targeted support for civil society organisations, the project aims to strengthen collective efforts in the public debate on tax justice. The collaboration with civil society organisations in Ghana, Kenya and Uganda as well as regional organisations builds upon strong former collaborations but is expected to exceed national borders and spread across the continent.

As part of the project, 210 journalists across Africa will be trained in investigative journalism on tax justice, transparency and anti-corruption, while also being supported in writing and publishing influential quality stories.

By supporting civil society organisations and journalists, the projects aim to reach and mobilise citizens to decide and participate in the public dialogue on progressive taxation to fight inequality.

This project is supported by Norad with 33,700,000 NOK.
Countries: Ghana, Kenya and Uganda