Nimmo Elmi, PhD student, Department of Thematic Studies (TEMA), Linköping University
Digitalisation of tax compliance: The case of iTax in Kenya
Developing countries are, like the rest of the world, shifting towards digitalising service delivery, with the aim of making public administration more efficient and effective. Most of these initiatives are endorsed by global initiatives aimed at bridging the developmental gap between developed and developing countries. This gap is often connected to socio-economic and political disparities. The implementations of these digital tax reforms in developing countries vary depending on the context. This seminar is concerned with the translations of global digital policies, focusing on iTax, an e-taxation platform used in Kenya. Based on ethnographic fieldwork in Kenya, I analyse how iTax travels and gets translated in practice. I attend to how iTax shapes taxation and taxpayers in Kenya. What happens when these models travel and get adopted in the global south? Do they remain the same?
Nimmo Elmi is a PhD Candidate at the Department of Thematic Studies (TEMA), Linköping University. Nimmo does research in Anthropology, specifically in relation to technology and taxation. Her current project is ‘Digitalisation of tax compliance in Kenya’. She has conducted ethnographic fieldwork and is writing a monograph about the impact of digitalising taxes in Kenya.
