Why Mass Tax Registration Campaigns Do Not Work

In recent years, policymakers and donors have become increasingly interested in the use of mass registration campaigns as a tool to expand the tax nets of lower-income countries. While registering taxpayers is common – and indeed necessary – practice for revenue authorities, these mass campaigns seek to accelerate the process. They typically work through broad-based door-to-door drives or by leveraging third-party data, such as those from national identification authorities or utility providers. Although the use of third-party data is essential to good tax administration, we argue that using them for the purpose of mass tax registration often leads to disappointment both in terms of revenue generation and taxpayer relations.