Multiplicity of taxes, marketization of services:Ugandan citizens’ experiences with and perceptions of tax and service payments

This paper explores Ugandan citizens’ experiences with and perceptions of paying taxes, tax-like payments, and user fees. We examine whether citizens have experienced an increase in the number of taxes, how they perceive the totality of the payments they make, and whether and how they link the payments to service delivery. Based on 25 focus group interviews carried out in four different Ugandan regions, supplementary interviews with public officials, Afrobarometer survey data, and a review of policy documents, we find that citizens experience a multiplicity of taxes; they perceive the number and types of taxes to have increased over time and are confused over the purposes of the different kinds of taxes and tax-like payments. They often have sense of double taxation; and they experience being charged for services which should in principle be free. In this sense, they express a frustration over what could be termed a marketization of services. Our findings call for caution when pursuing domestic revenue mobilization initiatives. Rather than searching for new types of taxes, governments and their partners should turn their attention to rationalization and transparency of tax measures.