TICGL

| Economic Consulting Group

TICGL | Economic Consulting Group
The Price of Formalisation: Can Tanzania's Tax Policy Fund Dira 2050 Without Overburdening MSMEs? | TICGL
TERI Research Report · Tax Policy & Dira 2050

The Price of Formalisation: Can Tanzania's Tax Policy Fund Dira 2050 Without Overburdening MSMEs?

Tanzania's Long-Term Perspective Plan wants USD 1 trillion in economic ambition and a formalised informal sector at the same time. This TICGL/TERI research report tests whether the tax instruments aimed at MSMEs can realistically deliver both — or whether formalisation and domestic-revenue mobilisation need to be pursued as two separate jobs.

PublisherTanzania Economic Research Institute (TERI) / TICGL
CoverageDira 2050 & LTPP 2026/27–2050/51
LocationDar es Salaam, Tanzania
PublishedAugust 2026
12.9%Tanzania's 2024 tax-to-GDP ratio
55%Of GDP from the informal sector
2.18MActive taxpayers in 2024/25, down from 3.3M
25% vs 22%LTPP vs Tax Commission 2050 targets

Executive Summary

This study examined the tax-policy instruments through which Tanzania's Dira 2050 and its Long-Term Perspective Plan (LTPP) 2026/27–2050/51 intend to fund the country's USD 1 trillion economic ambition while simultaneously formalising an informal sector that contributes an estimated 55 percent of GDP. It asks a narrow but consequential question: are the tax measures aimed at Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) — the same measures meant to move citizens from survival to ownership — capable of generating the domestic revenue Dira 2050 needs, or are they being asked to do a fiscal job they cannot realistically perform while imposing a real compliance cost on the citizens formalisation is meant to benefit?

The study finds that Tanzania's tax-to-GDP ratio, at approximately 12.9–13.1 percent, remains well below the Sub-Saharan Africa average of 15–18 percent, and that two official processes currently set different 2050 targets for closing that gap: the LTPP targets 25 percent, while the Presidential Commission on Tax Reforms, which submitted 284 recommendations to the President in March 2026, targets 22 percent. Compounding this, Tanzania's own active taxpayer registry contracted from 3.3 million in 2021/22 to 2.18 million in 2024/25 even as formalisation campaigns continued, and comparative evidence from Kenya and Uganda shows that presumptive and turnover-tax regimes aimed at the smallest enterprises typically raise negligible direct revenue relative to the compliance burden they impose.

Applying a four-dimensional tax-policy framework — revenue yield, compliance burden, formalisation incentive, and equity — to six tax channels under Dira 2050, the study finds that no channel currently rates strongly on both revenue yield and compliance burden simultaneously: the instruments capable of raising material new revenue (exemption rationalisation, large-taxpayer administration) are largely separate from the instruments aimed at MSMEs and formalisation. Tanzania's own 2021 mobile money transaction levy, which cut peer-to-peer transaction volumes by roughly 38 percent within three months before being repeatedly reduced and then largely scrapped, stands as a directly relevant domestic precedent for the risks of miscalibrated digital taxation that Dira 2050's own digital-tax provisions do not reference.

The report concludes with six recommendations centred on reconciling the two conflicting tax-to-GDP targets, decoupling the MSME formalisation agenda from the domestic-revenue agenda, and applying the lessons of Tanzania's own mobile money levy episode to future digital-tax design.

1. Background and Context

Dira 2050 requires financing on a scale far beyond anything Tanzania has previously mobilised: the LTPP estimates investment needs rising from USD 183 billion under the fourth Five-Year Development Plan to USD 1.58 trillion under the eighth, with total investment averaging more than 35 percent of GDP annually. Of this, the LTPP projects that domestic revenue, including tax collection, will cover only around 22 percent of financing needs, with foreign direct investment expected to mobilise roughly 57 percent and the domestic private sector the remaining 21 percent.

How Dira 2050's USD 1.58 Trillion Investment Need Is Expected to Be Financed

Source: LTPP 2026/27–2050/51 financing projections, as reported in the study.

The LTPP is candid that this gap has been long-standing and structural. Tanzania's tax-to-GDP ratio averaged approximately 12 percent between 2018 and 2024, against a Sub-Saharan Africa average of 16.3 percent, and stood at 12.9 percent in 2024. The Plan attributes this partly to administrative inefficiencies, tax exemptions with limited demonstrated impact on growth, and limited taxation of the informal sector and parts of agriculture — the same informal sector that the companion analysis of Dira 2050's citizen-ownership channels found contributes up to 55 percent of GDP while remaining largely outside the formal tax net.

This creates the specific tension this study investigates. The LTPP's own formalisation agenda proposes to bring millions of informal MSMEs into the tax system through a dedicated TRA support wing, a graduated tax system, and simplified compliance. This report asks the fiscal question directly: even if formalisation succeeds on its own terms, can taxing millions of newly formalised micro-enterprises realistically close a tax-to-GDP gap of 12 to 13 percentage points, or does relying on MSME taxation for that purpose risk imposing a real compliance cost on ordinary citizens for a fiscal return that comparative evidence suggests will be marginal?

1.1 Current Situation: Baseline Snapshot

Before assessing Dira 2050's forward-looking targets, this study establishes the current tax-policy baseline, drawing on the LTPP's own data, the Presidential Commission on Tax Reforms' March 2026 report, and Bank of Tanzania and Ministry of Finance data.

Table 1: Tax-policy baseline across six channels
ChannelCurrent Situation (Baseline)
MSME & informal-sector taxationThe informal sector contributes an estimated 55 percent of GDP and absorbs roughly 72 percent of the workforce (2023–24), largely outside the tax net. Over four million businesses reportedly remain informal, citing complex tax procedures as a primary barrier.
Fiscal sustainability / tax-to-GDP ratioTanzania's tax-to-GDP ratio stood at 12.9 percent in 2024 (13.1 percent by some FY2024/25 measures), against a Sub-Saharan Africa average of 15–18 percent and an EAC average of 12.7 percent. The fiscal deficit has averaged around 3.4–3.5 percent of GDP over the past five years.
Taxpayer baseThe number of active registered taxpayers fell from 3.3 million in 2021/22 to 2.18 million in 2024/25, even as formalisation campaigns continued over the same period.
Tax exemptions & incentivesTax exemptions are estimated to cost Tanzania approximately 2–3 percent of GDP in foregone revenue, with limited demonstrated impact on economic growth, and disparities flagged in how incentives are allocated relative to the 2022 Investment Act's guidelines.
Digital & mobile-money taxationA mobile money transaction levy introduced in July 2021 cut monthly peer-to-peer transaction volumes by roughly 38 percent within three months; reduced by 30 percent in September 2021, a further 43 percent in July 2022, and largely scrapped for most transfers from October 2022.
Institutional reformThe Presidential Commission on Tax Reforms, established October 2024 and chaired by Ambassador Ombeni Sefue, submitted a report to President Samia Suluhu Hassan on 18 March 2026 with 284 reform proposals, including renaming TRA to the Tanzania Revenue Service and a one-year tax grace period for startups.

2. Diagnostic Findings: The Policy Problem

A close reading of the LTPP alongside the Presidential Commission on Tax Reforms' 2026 report and Tanzania's own recent fiscal history surfaces four structural tensions that this study identifies as the central tax-policy problem for Dira 2050's implementation:

  1. Two unreconciled tax-to-GDP targets. The LTPP sets a target of raising Tanzania's tax-to-GDP ratio from 12.9 percent to at least 25 percent by 2050. The Presidential Commission on Tax Reforms separately sets a target of 22 percent for the same year — two different official benchmarks for the same indicator over the same horizon, with no public reconciliation between the two processes.
  2. A contracting taxpayer base alongside expanding formalisation ambitions. Active registered taxpayers fell from 3.3 million in 2021/22 to 2.18 million in 2024/25 — a decline of roughly a third — during the same period formalisation campaigns and digital tax systems were being expanded.
  3. A revenue-yield-versus-compliance-cost mismatch confirmed by regional evidence. Kenya's turnover tax generated only an estimated 0.002 percent of GDP in 2023 despite the compliance obligations it placed on hundreds of thousands of small traders. Uganda's presumptive tax regime imposes compliance costs averaging around USD 510 per year even on firms filing nil returns, and 68 percent of eligible SMEs remain outside the tax net regardless.
  4. An unreferenced domestic precedent on digital taxation. Tanzania's own 2021 mobile money transaction levy cut monthly peer-to-peer transaction volumes by roughly 38 percent within three months. Despite this direct national experience, the LTPP's digital-tax provisions (targeting e-commerce and digital-trade taxation by 2040) do not reference this precedent.
Left unresolved, these four tensions risk a scenario in which Tanzania succeeds at registering enterprises and improving inclusion — without closing the actual tax-to-GDP gap Dira 2050's financing model depends on.

3. Analytical Framework Applied in This Study

To assess Dira 2050's tax-policy instruments consistently, this study applied a four-dimensional working framework, structuring both the channel-level findings and the synthesis matrix below.

3.1

Revenue Yield

The extent to which an instrument is capable of generating material, measurable domestic revenue relative to Tanzania's financing needs — as distinct from the number of taxpayers registered.

3.2

Compliance Burden

The time, cost, and administrative complexity an instrument imposes on taxpayers, particularly MSMEs — frequently a stronger determinant of formalisation behaviour than the statutory tax rate itself.

3.3

Formalisation Incentive

Whether an instrument's net effect, once compliance burden and support are weighed together, makes voluntary formalisation more or less attractive to an informal operator.

3.4

Equity

Whether the burden of an instrument falls proportionately, or disproportionately, on smaller taxpayers, women-led enterprises, and lower-income citizens.

This framework separates two objectives that Dira 2050's own language sometimes treats as one: formalising the informal sector (a structural, inclusion-oriented goal) and closing the tax-to-GDP gap (a fiscal, revenue-oriented goal).

4. Study Objectives and Scope

Overall objective: to analyse the tax-policy instruments Dira 2050 and the LTPP rely on to formalise Tanzania's informal sector and fund the country's fiscal ambitions, and establish whether these instruments can deliver both objectives simultaneously, or should be sequenced separately.

6. Comparative Findings: Lessons from Other Economies

Tanzania is not alone in trying to tax its informal and small-business sector into the formal system while also raising material new domestic revenue. A review of comparable regional and cross-country experience offers concrete, quantified lessons for how Dira 2050's tax instruments are designed.

Table 2: Comparative regional tax-policy experience
Country / RegionRelevant ExperienceKey Lesson for Dira 2050
KenyaTurnover tax on small businesses, introduced 2008 at 3 percent on annual turnover between roughly USD 5,000–50,000, generated an estimated 0.002 percent of GDP in 2023.Presumptive taxes targeted at the smallest enterprises are unlikely to be a meaningful direct revenue source; evaluate on formalisation outcomes, not revenue.
UgandaPresumptive tax regime (since 1997) imposes average compliance costs of ~USD 510/year even on nil returns; 68 percent of eligible SMEs remain outside the tax net.Compliance cost and administrative burden, not the statutory rate, are usually the binding constraint on formalisation.
RwandaThe Rwanda Revenue Authority's e-Tax online filing, paired with SME-targeted training, is associated with improved compliance and revenue collection.Digitalisation of tax administration works when paired with active taxpayer education; introduced alone, it risks excluding the least digitally literate operators.
Sub-Saharan AfricaAn estimated 65 percent of regional tax authorities operate a simplified or presumptive small-business regime; cross-country reviews find these raise little revenue relative to administrative cost.Design and evaluate Tanzania's MSME tax wing primarily as an inclusion instrument, with a separate revenue plan.

Tanzania's Tax-to-GDP Ratio vs. Regional Benchmarks and 2050 Targets

Figures in percent of GDP. SSA range shown as reported low–high band; Tanzania 2024 figure and both 2050 targets from the LTPP and the Presidential Commission on Tax Reforms.

Tanzania's Active Taxpayer Registry, 2021/22 vs 2024/25

Source: Ministry of Finance data, as cited in the study. Decline of roughly one-third over three years.

7. Findings: Six Tax-Policy Channels under Dira 2050

Applying the framework in Section 3, this study analysed six tax-policy channels through which Dira 2050 and the LTPP intend to formalise the informal sector and mobilise domestic revenue.

7.1 MSME Tax Wing and the Graduated Tax System

The LTPP proposes a dedicated MSME wing within the TRA offering simplified, digitised tax filing, reduced initial tax burden on newly formalised businesses, and tax credits of up to 30 percent for firms creating 500+ jobs, alongside a national digital MSME database by 2030.

Strength identified

Directly targets the compliance-cost barrier that comparative evidence (Uganda) identifies as the single biggest deterrent to formalisation.

Structural gap / risk

Comparable regimes elsewhere (Kenya's 0.002 percent of GDP) generate negligible direct revenue. If Tanzania's 25 percent target implicitly assumes material MSME revenue, that assumption is not supported by comparative evidence.

7.2 Fiscal Sustainability and the Tax-to-GDP Target

The LTPP targets raising the tax-to-GDP ratio from 12.9 percent to at least 25 percent by 2050, alongside reducing public debt to 40 percent of GDP and containing the fiscal deficit to 1–3 percent of GDP.

Strength identified

Directionally consistent with the Tax Reform Commission's own recommendations; both processes agree administrative inefficiency and informality, not statutory rates, are the primary drags on revenue.

Structural gap / risk

The LTPP's 25 percent and the Commission's 22 percent targets for 2050 are not reconciled in any public document reviewed, risking inconsistent Five-Year Development Plan monitoring.

7.3 Tax Base Erosion: The Shrinking Taxpayer Registry

Active registered taxpayers fell from 3.3 million (2021/22) to 2.18 million (2024/25), even as formalisation campaigns and digital tax systems expanded over the same period.

Strength identified

The trend has been acknowledged publicly by senior finance officials, and the Commission's recommendations (simplified registration, a one-year startup grace period) directly respond to the likely cause.

Structural gap / risk

New formalisation drives risk running in place rather than expanding net registration, unless the causes of the existing contraction are diagnosed first.

7.4 Tax Exemptions and Incentive Rationalisation

Tax exemptions are estimated to cost Tanzania approximately 2–3 percent of GDP in foregone revenue, with the LTPP itself noting limited demonstrated growth impact.

Strength identified

The clearest area of consensus between the LTPP and the Tax Reform Commission, and the single largest identified pool of recoverable revenue without raising any statutory rate on MSMEs.

Structural gap / risk

Incentives tend to be allocated to larger, better-connected investors; rationalisation requires sustained political will that multiple years of similar recommendations have not yet delivered.

7.5 Digital Tax Systems and the Mobile Money Levy Precedent

Tanzania has progressively digitalised tax administration since 2013, and the LTPP plans further digitalisation to curb e-commerce tax evasion by 2040 — while the 2021 mobile money levy remains a cautionary domestic precedent.

Strength identified

Rwanda's experience shows digitalisation paired with taxpayer education can materially improve compliance, and Tanzania's 60+ million mobile money accounts provide a strong platform if designed carefully.

Structural gap / risk

The LTPP's digital-tax provisions do not reference the 2021–2022 levy experience or set out safeguards against repeating a sharp, self-defeating drop in transaction volumes.

7.6 Local Government Revenue Autonomy

The LTPP calls for strengthening LGA revenue collection through enhanced fiscal autonomy, while the Tax Reform Commission separately flags overlapping mandates between central (TRA) and local authorities.

Strength identified

Greater LGA fiscal autonomy is consistent with the decentralised, citizen-led governance channel identified as needing strengthening.

Structural gap / risk

Without first harmonising central and local instruments, expanding LGA revenue risks adding another charge layer on the same small, already-overburdened taxpayer pool.

Tanzania's 2021–2022 Mobile Money Levy: Transaction Volume Recovery Path

Illustrative index (100 = pre-levy baseline volume) built from the reported percentage impacts and reductions at each stage; not a precise monthly series.

8. Summary of Key Findings

Synthesising the channel-level findings against the four-dimensional tax-policy framework produces the matrix below. Ratings reflect this study's assessment: Strong (well evidenced to perform on this dimension), Emerging (directed at this dimension but not yet consolidated), and Weak (does not currently address this dimension, or evidence suggests it is unlikely to).

Table 3: Synthesis matrix — six channels against the four-dimensional framework
ChannelRevenue YieldCompliance BurdenFormalisation IncentiveEquity
MSME tax wing / graduated taxWeakEmergingEmergingEmerging
Tax-to-GDP fiscal targetStrong (aspiration)WeakWeakWeak
Taxpayer base erosion responseWeakEmergingWeakEmerging
Exemption rationalisationStrong (potential)EmergingWeakEmerging
Digital tax systemsEmergingEmergingWeakWeak
LGA revenue autonomyEmergingWeakWeakWeak

Synthesis Matrix Visualised: Rating Score by Channel and Dimension

Scores: Weak = 1, Emerging = 2, Strong = 3 — a visual translation of Table 3 above.

Two patterns stand out. First, the two channels rated Strong on revenue yield — the headline tax-to-GDP target and exemption rationalisation — are macro-level and administrative in nature, not MSME-focused; no MSME-targeted instrument rates above Weak on revenue yield. Second, no channel rates Strong on compliance burden, meaning the barrier comparative evidence identifies as most decisive for formalisation behaviour is not yet the primary design focus of any Tanzanian tax instrument reviewed.

9. Study Approach

This study is based on a structured desk review of the LTPP's fiscal and formalisation chapters, cross-referenced against the Presidential Commission on Tax Reforms' March 2026 report and recent Ministry of Finance and Bank of Tanzania data, combined with a comparative review of published research and policy analysis on MSME and presumptive taxation in Kenya, Uganda, and Rwanda, and documented reporting on Tanzania's own 2021–2022 mobile money levy episode. The four-dimensional tax-policy framework in Section 3 was applied consistently across all six channels to produce the findings in Section 7 and the synthesis matrix in Section 8.

9.1 Basis of the Findings

9.2 Scope and Limitations

How Does Tax Policy Shape Ordinary Citizens' Direct Participation in Tanzania's Dira 2050?

Dira 2050's promise is not just macroeconomic growth, but that ordinary citizens move from mere survival to genuine economic ownership. Tax policy is one of the six participation channels through which that promise is meant to be delivered — and this study's findings speak directly to it. Formalisation is often presented as the mechanism that pulls an informal trader into the visible, protected economy: once registered, an MSME can, in principle, access credit, legal protection, and market linkages it could not reach informally.

But this study's channel-level findings (Section 7.1) and the companion 'From Survival to Ownership' report both point to the same caution: the MSME tax wing currently rates only Emerging, not Strong, on formalisation incentive — meaning the pathway from informal survival to formal ownership is directed at, but not yet consolidated for, the ordinary citizen it is meant to serve. For a smallholder trader or micro-entrepreneur, direct participation in Dira 2050 through the tax channel currently means facing simplified — but still real — compliance obligations, in exchange for a formalisation and inclusion benefit that is better evidenced than any revenue benefit to the state. Treating that trade-off honestly, rather than assuming formalisation simultaneously solves both the citizen's inclusion problem and the state's revenue problem, is what this study's separation of the two agendas (Recommendation 2) is designed to protect.

10. Contribution of This Study

11. Policy Recommendations

Based on the findings above, this study recommends six actions, sequenced by urgency:

  1. Reconcile the LTPP's 25 percent tax-to-GDP target with the Presidential Commission's 22 percent target through a single authoritative fiscal benchmark, since both cannot simultaneously anchor Five-Year Development Plan monitoring.
  2. Decouple the MSME formalisation agenda from the domestic-revenue agenda: treat the MSME tax wing primarily as a formalisation and financial-inclusion instrument, evaluated on registration and inclusion KPIs, and set a separate, realistic revenue path centred on rationalising the 2–3 percent of GDP lost to exemptions and strengthening administration of the existing large-taxpayer base.
  3. Diagnose the causes of the taxpayer-base contraction (3.3 million to 2.18 million active taxpayers, 2021/22–2024/25) before expanding new formalisation drives.
  4. Apply the lesson of the 2021–2022 mobile money levy explicitly to any new digital or e-commerce tax measure: pilot at a low rate, consult stakeholders in advance, monitor transaction-volume impact in real time, and set a pre-agreed reduction trigger if usage drops sharply.
  5. Harmonise central (TRA) and local government revenue instruments before expanding LGA fiscal autonomy, so greater local revenue-raising power does not add another layer of charges on an already overburdened taxpayer pool.
  6. Publish exemption-by-exemption cost-benefit data, building on the Presidential Commission's 284 recommendations, so that rationalising the 2–3 percent of GDP lost to exemptions is transparent and can be sequenced ahead of new MSME compliance requirements.

12. Recommended Implementation Roadmap

0–12 months

Phase 1: Immediate Corrective Action

Reconcile the 22 percent / 25 percent tax-to-GDP target inconsistency (Recommendation 1); publish an exemption-by-exemption cost-benefit register (Recommendation 6).

Year 1–2

Phase 2: Diagnosis and Safeguard Design

Diagnose the taxpayer-base contraction (Recommendation 3); design a consultation-and-piloting protocol for any new digital or e-commerce tax measure (Recommendation 4).

Year 2–3

Phase 3: Harmonisation and Rollout

Harmonise TRA and LGA revenue instruments (Recommendation 5); roll out the MSME tax wing evaluated on formalisation and inclusion KPIs rather than revenue KPIs (Recommendation 2).

Ongoing from Year 3

Phase 4: Institutionalisation

Embed transparent exemption reporting and pre-agreed levy-adjustment triggers as standing fiscal governance practice.

13. Conclusion

Dira 2050's financing model depends on closing a persistent, decades-long tax-to-GDP gap, and its formalisation agenda offers a genuine route to bring millions of informal MSMEs into a system that can support them with credit, market linkages, and legal protection. This study finds, however, that the same instruments cannot be assumed to deliver both formalisation and material new domestic revenue at once: comparative regional evidence and Tanzania's own recent taxpayer-base trends both indicate that MSME-focused tax measures are, at best, a modest revenue contributor, while the largest realistic domestic-revenue gains lie in exemption rationalisation and administration of the existing tax base. Recognising this distinction — and applying the direct lesson of Tanzania's own 2021–2022 mobile money levy episode to future digital-tax design — would allow the formalisation agenda to proceed on its real strength, citizen inclusion and ownership, without being asked to also close a fiscal gap it is not well suited to closing alone.

Muhtasari kwa Kiswahili

Lengo la utafiti: Utafiti huu unachunguza kama sera za kodi zinazolenga MSME chini ya Dira 2050 zinaweza kufanikisha malengo mawili kwa wakati mmoja — kurasimisha sekta isiyo rasmi na kuongeza mapato ya ndani — au kama malengo hayo yanapaswa kutekelezwa kwa hatua tofauti.
Matokeo makuu: Uwiano wa kodi kwa Pato la Taifa (tax-to-GDP) wa Tanzania ni asilimia 12.9, chini ya wastani wa Afrika Kusini mwa Jangwa la Sahara (asilimia 15–18). Malengo mawili tofauti ya mwaka 2050 yapo — LTPP inalenga asilimia 25, wakati Tume ya Rais ya Marekebisho ya Kodi inalenga asilimia 22 — bila upatanisho rasmi.
Changamoto ya walipa kodi: Idadi ya walipa kodi waliosajiliwa imepungua kutoka milioni 3.3 (2021/22) hadi milioni 2.18 (2024/25), licha ya kampeni za urasimishaji kuendelea.
Fundisho la tozo ya miamala ya simu: Tozo ya mwaka 2021 ilipunguza miamala ya pesa za simu kwa asilimia 38 ndani ya miezi mitatu, ikapunguzwa mara kadhaa, na hatimaye kufutwa kwa kiasi kikubwa 2022 — somo muhimu kwa kodi za kidijitali zijazo.
Mapendekezo: Ripoti inapendekeza hatua sita, zikiwemo kupatanisha malengo mawili ya tax-to-GDP, kutenganisha ajenda ya urasimishaji wa MSME na ajenda ya mapato ya ndani, kuchunguza sababu za kupungua kwa walipa kodi, na kutumia fundisho la tozo ya simu kwenye kodi za kidijitali zijazo.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can MSME formalisation alone close Tanzania's tax-to-GDP gap?

No — this study finds no structural reason to expect Tanzania's MSME tax wing to raise material direct revenue, even if it succeeds as a formalisation tool. Comparable regimes in Kenya (0.002 percent of GDP in 2023) show presumptive taxes aimed at the smallest enterprises typically raise negligible revenue relative to the compliance burden they impose.

What is Tanzania's current tax-to-GDP ratio compared to its 2050 target?

Approximately 12.9 percent in 2024, against an LTPP target of 25 percent and a Presidential Commission target of 22 percent for 2050 — two unreconciled official benchmarks.

Why did Tanzania's taxpayer registry shrink between 2021 and 2025?

Active registered taxpayers fell from 3.3 million to 2.18 million, even as formalisation campaigns expanded. Officials have publicly attributed part of this to the overburdening of a small pool of existing taxpayers.

What happened with Tanzania's 2021 mobile money transaction levy?

It cut monthly peer-to-peer transaction volumes by roughly 38 percent within three months, was reduced three times, and was largely scrapped for most transfers by October 2022 following public and legal pushback.

Which tax-policy instruments generate the most realistic domestic revenue?

Exemption rationalisation (worth an estimated 2–3 percent of GDP) and stronger administration of the existing large-taxpayer base — not MSME-focused instruments.

References

crossmenu linkedin facebook pinterest youtube rss twitter instagram facebook-blank rss-blank linkedin-blank pinterest youtube twitter instagram