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Accepted Paper:
Revenue mobilisation or repression? Taxing online activities in Africa
Pauline Lemaire
(Chr. Michelsen Institute)
This article explores how an analogue instrument – taxation – is differentially deployed by African states, depending on which economic and political interests take priority. It finds that political and economic incentives play a role in the adoption of taxes on the use of social media and internet.
Paper long abstract:
Concerns are increasing over the political power multinational digital platform companies wield in the countries where they generate value from data, including across the African continent, while remaining untaxed. At the same time many African countries struggle to raise revenue. In this context, some states have attempted to levy taxes on citizens’ online activities, for example by taxing the use of social media, thereby also restricting the digital political space. This article explores how an analogue instrument – taxation – is differentially deployed by African states, depending on which economic and political interests take priority. Based on the comparison of Benin, Uganda, Rwanda and Nigeria, the article finds that both political and economic incentives play a role in the adoption of taxes on the use of social media and internet, depending on whether states are more interested in restricting the use of such services to limit opposition and/or to raise revenue, or whether their interest lie in the potential of internet for economic development and/or for population surveillance. These findings highlight how taxation can shape the digital political sphere, and be used as a tool to support its expansion – or to limit it.