Tax and Gender

Tax and Gender

Do tax systems affect women and men differently? In low-income countries, the majority of people work in the informal sector, meaning that most do not pay income taxes—though pay a wide range of user fees and informal taxes to access goods that would otherwise be financed by taxes. Focusing only on formal tax policies, then, misses much of the story of gender inequity and taxation. Research on gender and tax in low-income countries faces critical questions going forward. How can tax policies and systems be designed and implemented to advance gender equity, taking the everyday realities of taxation into account? And what is the role of women in tax administration and policy making, and how is it changing? What drives the gendered impacts of informal taxes and user fees?

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Tax and Gender

Test your Knowledge

If there are no explicit biases in tax policy, taxes cannot affect men and women differently
Women in low-income countries typically pay:
Research finds that women are often more likely to face harassment from tax collectors, including sexual harassment.
Informal taxes can only be understood as corruption or extortion.
User fees to access toilets affect women more than men.
Research in Sierra Leone found that female-headed households pay more in informal taxes and user fees in relation to their income compared to male-headed households.
Which of the following is true about women in tax administration?
Research in Uganda found that women working at the tax administration perform better on average than men

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External Resources

Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing and Organizing 

WIEGO is a global network dedicated to improving the working conditions of the working poor – especially women – in the informal economy.

ATAF Women in Tax Network 

A forum for African women working on tax issues to connect, collaborate and raise awareness on the gender dimensions of tax on the continent.

World Bank: Gender Equality and Tax Reform 

This website contains publications, blogs, stakeholder engagements and research inquiries on the gendered incidence of taxation, the impact of property tax discounts on women’s land ownership and the importance of gender disaggregated data in understanding the gendered impacts of taxation.

OECD: Tax and Gender 

The OECD website has various reports, videos, blog posts and information on events on gender and tax including gender balance in tax administration, gender and tax policy and gender-sensitive reforms for tax policy post-COVID 19.

Global Alliance for Tax Justice 

The GATJ library contains reports and campaigns that the Alliance has been involved in on gender and tax issues including framing feminist taxation, the Uganda Fair Tax Monitor and CSOs’ position on the IMF’s Gender Strategy.

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