Roukiatou Nikiema, Pam Zahonogo, & Romain Houssa (2026, CESifo Working Paper No. 12621 CESifo Munich)
Abstract
This paper examines the role of institutional factors in shaping taxpayer behaviour, using survey data from approximately 70,000 individuals across 29 Sub-Saharan African countries in 2011 and 2016. The results show that individuals are more likely to comply with tax obligations when they perceive greater difficulties in evading taxes, have confidence in the tax administration, and view it as less corrupt. Compliance is also higher when respondents perceive higher-quality public goods and services and do not perceive ethnic discrimination in government policies. We present heterogeneous analysis based on the natural resource abundance status of respondents’ countries.