Tax officials and experts gather to bolster cooperation between tax administrations and discuss the informal sector in African countries and the impediments and solutions to bringing it into the formal economy and into the tax net .
PRESS RELEASE BY THE AFRICAN TAX ADMINISTRATION FORUM (ATAF)
04 FEBRUARY 2020, ABUJA, NIGERIA – Informal sector experts and tax administration officials from countries throughout the African continent are gathered in Abuja for a three day conference to discuss how to address challenges arising from the informal sector in Africa.
The conference is being jointly hosted by the African Tax Administration Forum (ATAF) and Nigeria’s Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), supported by the African Development Bank. It forms part of a meeting of tax officials from ATAF’s 38 member countries to discuss the organisation’s 2020 work plan which comprises a comprehensive calendar of activities aimed at building capacity and boosting skills in African tax administrations and supporting them through research and the provision of technical assistance and expert advice.
ATAF is also pleased to welcome to his first official engagement the new chair of FIRS, Mr Muhammad Nami, who has taken over as the Chair of the ATAF Council which Nigeria currently holds, and we look forward to working with him. The organisation would also like to thank the previous chair, Mr Babatunde Fowler, for his service to the organisation and especially for the valuable contributions he made during his terms as chair of the ATAF Council.
The focus of this year’s conference is the informal economy because of its sheer scale in African countries, with the International Labour Organisation (ILO) estimating in an April 2018 report that as much as 85.8 per cent of employment in Africa is informal. The proportion is 68.2 per cent in Asia and the Pacific, 68.6 per cent in the Arab States, 40.0 per cent in the Americas and 25.1 per cent in Europe and Central Asia. According to the ILO report, two billion people – more than 61 per cent of the world’s employed population – make their living in the informal economy and that 93 per cent of the world’s informal employment is in emerging and developing countries. Not only do the majority of informal sector workers lack social protection and labour rights, informal sector businesses are constrained from advancing economically because they cannot access affordable financial products.
This has a negative impact on GDP, economic and social development, and tax collection. Because they operate outside the formal economic system it is difficult if not impossible to bring the informal sector into the tax net. The informal sector conference is the first of several similar events to be held in other regions of Africa planned by ATAF as part of its year-long research project on the informal sector.
The aim to create discuss and develop a common understanding of what an African model for the efficient taxing of the informal sector entails with a view to producing guidelines and a framework that can be implemented by African tax administrations. The research project includes carrying out case studies in at least six African countries where ATAF can benchmark sound practices that can be incorporated into the African framework for an efficient and effective taxation of the informal sector. The conference will also select experts to serve on a technical review committee on this project.
About ATAF
The African Tax Administration Forum is an organisation which was established by African revenue authorities in 2009, in order to improve the performance of tax administrations in Africa. The tax administrations of 38 countries in Africa are members of ATAF, i.e. 75% of tax administrations on the continent, making it the premier body on tax matters in Africa. ATAF believes that better tax administration will enhance economic growth, increase accountability of the state to its citizens, and more effectively mobilise domestic resources.
Now in its 10th year of existence, ATAF has positioned itself as Africa’s homegrown solution to improving revenue collection, advancing the role of taxation in governance and state-building and providing a voice for the continent on international tax issues. For more information: Mr Michael Masiya – Expert on the Informal Sector Tel: +27 (0) 12 451 8000 Cell : +27 (0) 81 394 3114Email : mmasiya@ataftax.org
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