‘Taxing Africa’ named to Foreign Affairs’ list of best books

February 4, 2020

The latest book from Wilson Prichard Taxing Africa: Coercion, Reform, and Development, has been named one of Foreign Affairs’ best books of 2019.

Prichard is an associate professor jointly appointed to the department of political science in the Faculty of Arts & Science and the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy. A research fellow at the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex and the research director of the International Center for Tax and Development, Prichard’s research focus is in international development with a particular focus on sub-Saharan Africa.

In its review of the book, written by Prichard, Mick Moore and Odd-Helge Fjeldstad, Foreign Affairs describes taxation in Africa as “poorly understood.” The book offers a “concise and masterly introduction” to the topic that helps explain why tax systems in Africa are regressive, with poorer citizens paying much higher rates of tax than wealthy citizens pay.