Norms, Power and the Socially Embedded Realities of Market Taxation in Northern Ghana. ICTD Working Paper 30
This article provides a ground-level view of market taxation in two local government areas in Ghana's relatively disadvantaged northern region. It describes a system shaped by informal practices that are grounded in social relationships and collective norms, which sometimes foster greater equity and in other cases serve to reinforce existing inequalities. The evidence suggests the need for a more nuanced understanding of the highly informal and socially embedded realities of local tax collection, and the possibility that improved outcomes could be achieved by "working with the grain" of these inescapable local realities, while seeking to minimize potential costs of informality. Resume: Cet article donne une vue d'ensemble sur la fiscalite du marche du Ghana dans deux gouvernements locaux relativement desavantages de la region Nord. Il decrit un systeme marque d'une par des pratiques informelles ancrees dans les relations sociales et de l'autre dans des normes collectives, qui parfois favorisent une plus grande equite et dans d'autre cas servent a renforcer les inegalites existantes. La preuve suggere la necessite d'une comprehension plus nuancee d'une realite tres informelle et socialement integree du recouvrement des impots locaux et la possibilite que des resultats ameliores puissent etre obtenus en "travaillant avec le grain" de ces realites locales incontournables, tout en cherchant a minimiser les couts potentiels d' informalite.