Revenue Administration in Sub-Saharan Africa - International Tax ...

function. Only 3 revenue bodies (SARS, RRA and ERCU) reported IT expenditures above5% of total administrative expenditure (in 2008) while in the majority of the countries,IT expenditures on average accounts for less than 2% of total administrativeexpenditure. 73 Effective IT systems are a critical feature of modern revenueadministration and, revenue bodies are actively improving IT systems as part of theirbroader revenue reform strategies. 74 The wide disparity across countries largely reflectslevels of reform and modernization. For instance, Rwanda and Ethiopia reported highexpenditures on IT because they were deploying a new integrated tax administrationsystem (ITAS) while South Africa was investing in IT to modernize certain aspects of itstax operations. 75Table 12: Total cost of collection ratio for the revenue bodyCountryTotal administrative expenditure as a share of total revenue2006 2007 2008Benin n.a. 0.5 0.5Botswana 0.7 0.7 0.7Burundi n.a. n.a. 3Ethiopia n.a. n.a. n.a.Ghana 2.8 2.7 2.8Kenya 1.9 1.7 1.6Malawi 3.23 3.08 3.6Mauritius n.a 1.8 1.7Rwanda 3.3 3.0 2.7SierraLeone3.8 3.9 3.4Senegal n.a. n.a. n.a.SouthAfrica1.0 1.0 1.0Tanzania 3.4 3.4 2.8Uganda 2.6 2.3 2.0Zambia 2.7 2.3 2.373 This may have changed in a number of countries currently undertaking huge IT investments (Kenya and Uganda areimplementing integrated tax administration systems).74 Modern revenue administrations spend significant resources improving and computerizing their business processes.A 2009 OECD survey shows that total IT costs reported for 11 countries exceeded 15% of aggregate expenditure in eachof the 2005 to 2007 years.75 Kenya, Botswana, Malawi, Uganda and Zambia indicated they were contemplating additional investments in IT tomodernize tax operations to provide for e-filling and e-payment solutions.51