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Tax Collection: Mali Style
A local civil society organization of the rural commune of Ngoura received
training from a USAID-funded Private Voluntary Organization(PVO). The
training was designed to help the organization to: (a) analyze the strengths
and weaknesses of the populations living in the commune of Ngoura and;
(b) better understand the decentralization laws and processes. As the
result of this training, the community organization conducted an assessment
and found out that the major obstacle to local development in this rural
commune was inadequate and improper tax collection. Based on follow-on
training received from the PVO directed at the problem, the local civil
society organization developed and implemented an action plan to help
the commune increase its tax revenues. They organized various workshops
to better explain the importance of paying local taxes and held a feedback
session involving local populations and local elected officials. The
objective of those sessions was to establish a more formal chain of
communication between communal elected officials and their constituencies.
They also educated local populations and businesses about the importance
of paying local taxes.
As the result of these interventions, the following was achieved:
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80% of local tax revenues was collected (double the
previous year);
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the local population better understood the importance
of paying local taxes and the local civil society organization has
served as the problem-solving link between elected officials and the
local population; and,
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the local population has become much more active and
interested in community activities.
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