Drivers and implications of import tax evasion in Uganda

Improving domestic revenue collection is a pressing objective for the Government of Uganda, and combatting the evasion of taxes on imports is an important tool for boosting revenue collection.We combine publicly available and anonymised administrative data to identify evasive behaviour by importers and estimate the associated fiscal cost. Our analysis suggests that misreporting in customs and VAT declarations by importers is systematically linked to tariff and exchange rates. Additional access to existing data would dramatically enhance our ability to pinpoint the drivers of evasion and provide precise policy-relevant analysis.