The East Africa Tax and Governance Network (EATGN) has launched its first report on taxation and human rights in East Africa. The study entitled , ‘Taxation and Human Rights: taxing rights policies are human rights policies,’ is borne of a series of collaborations with the Kenya National Human Rights Commission (KNHRC) with whom EATGN began a conversation about the link between tax and human rights.

This publication is a synthesis of reports compiled from the East African region that sought to examine the concept of maximum available resources as espoused by the convention on Economic, Social and Cultural (ESC) Rights as a measure of progressive realisation. The threshold is measured against resources allocated by the state from its vantage point as custodian of the social contract and proponent for domestic resource mobilisation. In this regard, revenue collection and allocation is based on deliberate state action through policy orientation.

This report shows the budgetary allocation trends in Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda for the FY2016/2017 to sectors that promote ESC Rights. It builds on the Tax Justice Network – Africa and ActionAid International Report that looked at the Tax Incentives Regime within the East Africa Community (EAC) showing tax incentives offered by each country. The report demonstrates the opportunity cost of tax incentives through budgetary allocations and its effect of deepening the inequality gap.

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