operational question for governments is whether taxpayers believe that taxes are, in fact, used for national development – and, if not, how to build greater trust.

Surveys across the developing world suggest that taxpayers are, at least in principle, strong believers in the importance of taxation to fund government. Data from the Afrobarometer survey, for example, find that two-thirds of respondents on average believe that citizens should pay their taxes to support national development.<sup>132</sup> Faith in the general importance of taxes often exists even in areas of very poor service delivery. A recent survey in the Democratic Republic of Congo, for example, found that over 70 percent of respondents support taxation to fund national development.<sup>133</sup> It is occasionally suggested that developing country taxpayers may not understand, or value, the connection between taxation and national development. However, the empirical evidence shows unambiguously that broad support for effective taxation exists across a wide range of contexts.

Accordingly, there is mounting empirical evidence that if tax revenues are translated into public goods, this is associated with higher levels of tax morale and compliance. Recent survey and experimental evidence from Latin America offers clear support for a connection between perceived reciprocity and willingness to pay taxes.<sup>134</sup> This replicates more basic data from a variety of surveys from across the African countries.<sup>135</sup> An OECD survey conducted in 26 Asian countries showed that a majority of their citizens are in favor of tax increases if they are linked to more government spending and provision of public goods.<sup>136</sup> While taxpayers express an in-principle commitment to taxation, they frequently harbor significant doubts about whether tax revenues are, in fact, used to support the broader public good. Survey respondents in the DRC, as noted above, expressed strong in-principle support for taxation, but 40 percent of respondents said that in practice they had refused or would refuse to pay taxes. This is a reflection of the strikingly low level of trust in the way the revenues are used, with 70 percent of respondents believing that the government is very likely to misuse tax revenue, and another 15 percent finding it somewhat likely.<sup>137</sup> While survey questions on this specific point are not widely available across countries, public concerns about use of government resources appear widespread.

The core challenge facing governments is thus to demonstrate to taxpayers that tax revenues are in fact being used to fund national development. Doing so is likely to require two things: (1) effective strategies for highlighting the connections between revenue and services for taxpayers; and (2) actual improvements in service delivery outcomes as revenue collection increases. While

> 132 Aiko, R., & Logan, C. (2014). Africa's willing taxpayers thwarted by opaque tax systems, corruption. _Afrobarometer Policy Paper 7_ . Afrobarometer.

> 133 Paler, L., Prichard, W., Sanchez de la Sierra, R., & Samii, C. (2017). Survey on Total Tax Burden in the DRC, Final Report. Kinshasa: Department for International Development.

> 134 Ortega, D., Ronconi, L., & Sanguinetti, P. (2016). Reciprocity and willingness to pay taxes: Evidence from a survey experiment in Latin America. _Economia_ , 16 (2):55-87.

> 135 Ali, M., Fjeldstad, O-H., & Sjursen, I. (2013). To pay or not to pay? Citizens' attitudes towards taxation in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and South Africa. _World Development_ , 64:828-842.

> 136 OECD. (2013). What drives tax morale? _Tax and Development_ . Paris: Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.

> 137 Paler, L., Prichard, W., Sanchez de la Sierra, R., & Samii, C. (2017). Survey on total tax burden in the DRC, Final Report. Kinshasa: Department for International Development.

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