“Progressive Tax System to Pay for a Just Future” Fighting inequality through progressive taxation: Tanzania Context

Abstract

This paper focuses on the status and trends of inequality and the progressive tax system to pay for a just future in Tanzania across some selected taxable sources. It is typically desk research study dwelled on analyzing and synthesizing secondary data/information and literature concerning the issue of under resource mobilization in Tanzania. Findings of the study show that, in Tanzania, the country's tax-to-GDP ratio increased from 10% in 2004/05 to 11.8% in 2022/23, with a peak of 13.3% in 2015/16. This means in every 100 items which passes/was supposed to pass in the market, it is only 13 items which are taxed. Further, it is found that there is little wealth-related taxation in Tanzania. Thus, the poor and the working population bear the main burden, and in search for justice, this is unfair. The study recommends, that taxes on wealth are a policy instrument to address wealth inequality and could raise substantial revenue while shoring up structural weaknesses in the current income tax system. It is an additional way to raise revenues and address wealth inequality through budget justice.