ICTD was delighted to welcome a delegation of faculty from the Kenya School of Revenue Authority (KESRA), the Kenya Revenue Authority’s (KRA) specialised training school, to the Institute of Development Studies, ICTD’s institutional home in Brighton, from June 3 – June 6.

KESRA students gave presentations of their respective research ideas receiving invaluable feedback from ICTD researchers as well as taking part in dedicated study sessions and training sessions delivered by ICTD staff on:

• Effect of Digitalisation on Tax compliance and Digital Rights Management (DRM),
• Researching informal and illegal activities,
• Programme management
• Research Communications.

The visiting delegation comprised Dr. Bernard Baimwera, Dean of KESRA, Davis Ong’ayo, Coordinator of the MTC Programme, Marion Otwani, Supervisor of Academic Research/Research Methods Trainer and four students:

• Beatrice Jerop Menin presenting on Taxpayer Perception, System Automation And Value Added Tax Compliance Among Small And Medium Enterprises In Eldoret Town, Kenya
• Elvis Moenga presenting on Factors Affecting Tax Technology Adoption Among Micro, Small And Medium-Sized Enterprises In The West Of Nairobi, Kenya
• Ivy Chepkorir presenting on the Effect of Transfer Pricing on Corporate Income Tax in Kenya
• Timothy Kimani Kahunga presenting on Behavioral factors, compliance cost and value tax compliance among Small and Medium Enterprises in Embu Town, Kenya

During the welcome session, ICTD Co-Research Director, Dr Giulia Mascagni, presented an overview of the ICTD’s structure and team, introducing the centre’s research areas and activities.

“We are delighted to welcome you at IDS, the ICTD’s institutional base, and are looking forward to four days of thought-provoking discussions on various tax topics, from digitization to formalization and much more. This is an invaluable opportunity to connect research to policymaking, to improve equity, accountability and effectiveness in the way tax systems are designed and implemented,” she said.

For his part, Dr Bernard Baimwera introduced the work of KESRA highlighting the importance of research within KESRA and KRA.

“Our aim is to make use of research to develop evidence-based tax policies that will in turn lead towards sustainable revenue generation. Hence, the importance of our ongoing partnership with the ICTD and especially this week’s visit that will provide our students with the support needed to hone their tax related research,” he stressed.

ICTD values its partnership with KRA and KESRA, in the context of our broader work towards improving empirical evidence to inform decision-making for more equitable, effective, and accountable revenue generation. Research collaborations will focus on thematic areas such as the taxation of high-net-worth individuals, digital taxation, taxation of the informal sector and gender and tax.