This article draws on research carried out through 1996, 1997 and 1998. The field
studies were conducted in Kibaha District Council, Coastal Region, and Kilosa
DC, Morogoro Region. These studies aimed at providing primary data and
analyses of the capacities and constraints of the local tax administrations,
especially in relation to tax design, revenue collection, incentive problems and
service delivery. They covered all three council levels; the district headquarters,
the wards and the village levels. Information was collected from a variety of
sources and through different methods, and covered staff members of the tax
administration, local politicians and taxpayers. In addition, data on tax revenues
for about 50 councils were collected from the Ministry of Local Government in
Dodoma.2 Data on central government taxes were acquired from the Ministry of
Finance and Tanzania Revenue Authority, where we also interviewed officials on
the relationship between local and central government taxation.