Taxing the Informal Sector in Developing Countries: the Case of Ghana
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TAXING THE INFORMAL SECTOR IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES: THE CASE OF GHANA By ALEXANDER AMPAABENG A thesis submitted to The University of Birmingham for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Department of Accounting and Finance Birmingham Business School The University of Birmingham September 2018 University of Birmingham Research Archive e-theses repository This unpublished thesis/dissertation is copyright of the author and/or third parties. The intellectual property rights of the author or third parties in respect of this work are as defined by The Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 or as modified by any successor legislation. Any use made of information contained in this thesis/dissertation must be in accordance with that legislation and must be properly acknowledged. Further distribution or reproduction in any format is prohibited without the permission of the copyright holder. ABSTRACT Taxing the informal sector poses a significant challenge to every tax authority. The task of designing a system to encourage voluntary tax compliance in the informal sectors of developing economies is a particularly important task given the relative sizes of these sectors in their domestic economies. Due to lack of reliable data about the operators of the informal economy it is difficult to comprehensively understand what produces tax non-compliance, and even less what motivates compliance, however, this information is critical to the design of effective policy. Most tax authorities resort to using blunt and often punitive measures designed to deter evasion rather than promoting long term voluntary compliance. Existing literature on informal sector taxation in developing countries is limited, and what does exist emphasises development of the tax system rather than understanding the taxpayer. This study draws on research designed for better understanding of taxpayer behaviour in the formal sector and apply it to informal sector taxpayers to explore the degree to which it may inform us of tax compliance motivations in this sector also. The study uses the Ayres and Braithwaite (1992) Responsive Regulatory Theory (RRT) to analyse the impact of a responsive regulatory tax administration on the tax compliance decision of informal sector operators. Three methods of data collection are used – face-to-face interview, survey and field observation to collect data from the informal sector operators and tax officers in Ghana. The findings from this study indicate that due to the difficulty in obtaining information about taxpayers and the ease in concealing taxable activities, adopting purely command-and-control and deterrence based compliance approaches such as intensive auditing and heavy fines will not promote voluntary compliance. The study thus finds that tax morale, relationship with the officials, trust, tax education/knowledge, and tax revenue usage do have significant influence on compliance decisions in this sector in similar ways to those operating as part of formal tax systems. i DEDICATION I dedicate this to mother, Mary Dansowaa, and the memory of the three closest people I have lost in the last few years. My dad, J.K Ampaabeng, and my two sisters - Hagar Ampaabeng and Lydia Osei Ampaabeng. You’re forever in my memory. May the Angels look after you! Also to all my children and family who had limited attention during these years. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I wold like to thank God for his protection and love in making this long journey possible. Professor Andy Lymer, my supervisor, words cannot say how grateful I am for all the hard work you have put in to nurture me in the last few years. Your constructive criticisms have made all the difference. I am grateful for every minute of your time dedicated towards my training. Dr. Dan Herbet, my second supervisor, thanks to you too for the good support and feedback offered, especially in the latter part of this study. I really appreciate this a lot. My deepest gratitude to my beautiful ‘Angel’ and better half Promisia Frazer, my children, Lily-May Dansowaa Ampaabeng, Malachi Alex Danso Ampaabeng, Jadon Acheampong Danso Ampaabeng, Neriah Adwubi Dansowaa Ampaabeng, and Jacob-Curtis Brenya Ampaabeng for their continuous love and support throughout this journey. I’m grateful! To the rest of my family and friends, may God bless you all for the diverse ways you contributed during this long journey. May God bless us all AMEN. iii Contents ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................................. i DEDICATION ............................................................................................................................................ ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ............................................................................................................................ iii LIST OF TABLES ...................................................................................................................................... xii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ....................................................................................................................... xiii CHAPTER ONE ......................................................................................................................................... 1 INTRODUCTION AND THESIS OVERVIEW ................................................................................................ 1 1.0. Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 1 1.1. Research problem ........................................................................................................................ 6 1.2 Why Ghana? .................................................................................................................................. 8 1.3. Research Objectives ..................................................................................................................... 9 1.3.1 Research questions .............................................................................................................. 11 1.4. Significance of the study ............................................................................................................ 11 1.5. Research design and methodology ............................................................................................ 13 1.6. Scope of study ............................................................................................................................ 14 1.7. Content of the thesis.................................................................................................................. 14 CHAPTER TWO ...................................................................................................................................... 16 THE INFORMAL ECONOMY ................................................................................................................... 16 2.0. Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 16 2.1. What is the informal sector? ..................................................................................................... 16 2.2. Theories of the informal sector ................................................................................................. 18 2.2.1. The dualists’ view of the informal economy ....................................................................... 18 2.2.2. The structuralists’ view of the informal economy .............................................................. 19 2.2.3. The Legalists’ theory of the economy ................................................................................. 20 2.2.4 Informal sector policy recommendations from the three theoretical standpoints ............ 21 2.3. The size and role of the informal sector .................................................................................... 22 2.4. Mechanisms to support informal sector operation ................................................................... 26 2.5. Informal sector taxation challenges - evidence from existing literature ................................... 28 2.6 Presumptive Taxation ................................................................................................................. 32 2.6.1 Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 32 iv 2.6.2 Why use Presumptive Taxation?.......................................................................................... 33 2.6.3 Methods of Presumptive Taxation ....................................................................................... 34 2.6.4 Presumptive taxation systems in selected advanced and middle-income countries .......... 39 2.6.5 Forms of Presumptive Taxation ........................................................................................... 40 2.7. Summary .................................................................................................................................... 42 CHAPTER THREE .................................................................................................................................... 44 INFORMAL SECTOR TAXATION IN GHANA ............................................................................................ 44 3.0. Introduction ..............................................................................................................................