Oxfam and its partner le Forum Civil launched the Fair Tax Monitor (FTM) by presenting the first report in Dakar last Friday. This study highlights the need to improve the tax practices and governance in order to achieve fair taxation. The report notes that while efforts were made in the last ten years, the assessment and collection remains the same.

Pressure on households

As part of its development program Plan Sénégal Emergent (PES), Senegal aims to have a tax burden of around 20.9% in 2018. The report shows that the tax burden is not distributed fairly right now. The tax burden on households remains high compared to the companies.

Elimane Kane, Head of Oxfam in Senegal Governance Program, states that the absence of fiscal transparency, the inefficiency of tax administration, the exorbitant tax expenditures are some factors that lead to this situation. Countries need to publish their data regularly to create more transparency in taxation. Although information is available on the official websites of the Senegalese Government, those are not easy to understand and remain too technical for the general public.

The report therefore concludes that Senegal does not fulfill all the criteria for a just and fair taxation.