3. Improving Domestic Revenue Mobilisation in African Countries Using ICT: A Literature Review Analysis

Many countries in Africa do not have adequate capacity to mobilize domestic fiscal resources for economic growth and development. This has led to an extremely low tax-to-GDP ratio in many African countries. Countries in the Sub-Sahara Africa region continue to fall below 7% growth rate. For economic development and growth to happen, a country should have an effective and efficient tax system to mobilize domestic fiscal resources to finance the provision of essential public goods and services. For domestic taxation is a panacea for development. Currently, there are extensive calls for reforms in the tax systems. One of the reforms that can greatly change the face of many tax bodies in Africa and has a great potential to improve domestic revenue collection is the integration of ICT into the tax systems. A number of African countries have started an array of initiatives to exploit ICT with a view of improving domestic tax revenues. Indeed, in this modern age, it is quite difficult to conceive of a tax administration system that can perform to its expectation without making considerable use of ICT. However, high expectations on the use of multi-million dollar ICT resources to improve the tax systems in Africa has either not materialized or has proven to be a much more time-consuming and costly than originally envisaged. There is a need to investigate the current use of ICT in Tax Administrations and the extent to which ICT addresses significant challenges in Tax Administration. The lessons outlined in this chapter may be important in informing governments in Africa on how to successfully improve Tax Administration using ICTs.