Tax revenues in African countries are rising as a proportion of national incomes, according to the inaugural edition of Revenue Statistics in Africa.
The report, which contains internationally comparable revenue data for eight African countries, accounting for almost a quarter of Africa’s total GDP, will be discussed on Sunday 3 April in Addis Ababa during the 2016 African Union (AU) – Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) Conference of Ministers.
In 2014, the eight countries covered by the report – Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Mauritius, Morocco, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa and Tunisia – reported tax revenues as a percentage of GDP ranging from 16.1% to 31.3%.
All of these countries experienced increases in their tax-to-GDP ratios. The size of these increases ranged from 0.9 percentage points in Mauritius to 6.7 percentage points in Tunisia.
Morocco, Rwanda and South Africa had increases of around 5 to 6 percentage points.
The increases in tax revenues in African countries reflect continuing efforts to mobilise domestic resources, as well as the result of tax reforms and modernisation of tax systems and administrations, the report said.
The total non-tax revenues collected as a percentage of GDP in 2014 ranged from 0.6% of GDP in South Africa to 9.5% of GDP in Rwanda.
The same year, the GDP in tax ratios in the eight African countries covered ranged from 16.1% to 31.3% (the OECD average is 34.4%). Tunisia had the highest tax-to-GDP ratio in 2014 (31.3%), followed by Morocco (28.5%). Cameroon and Rwanda had the lowest ratios tax / GDP in 2014 to 16.1%, followed by Ivory Coast (17.8%). The eight countries saw GDP increase in tax ratios over the period 2000-14.
However, the share of taxes on income and profits in total tax revenue is the highest in South Africa, 51.2% in 2014.
The consumption taxes have provided greater share in total tax revenue – over 55% – in Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Mauritius, Rwanda and Senegal. With the exception of Côte d’Ivoire, more than half of this revenue category is generated by VAT.
Moreover, Tunisia and Morocco show a tax structure more evenly distributed compared to other countries: about 30% of revenue came from taxes on income and profits; about 35% to 40% were consumption taxes; and 20% to 28% were contributions for Social Security.
