Publication: Gender and Taxpayer Study in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan: In Preparation for the One-Stop Taxpayer Facilitation Centers
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2023-09-15
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2023-09-15
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This study supports the KP provincial government’s efforts to facilitate women’s voluntary tax compliance by understanding women’s constraints and experiences in tax payment and property registration and the gender gaps in access to and use of digital technologies. It draws data from a survey, which interviewed 1,200 current taxpayers and nontaxpayers (a third of whom were women), focus group discussions with women and female tax administrators, and key informant interviews with senior directors of the KP tax administrations. It identifies specific challenges women face in property registration and tax payments, such as restricted mobility, and lack of information and unclear processes. It also reveals that women’s challenges are not monolithic, but varies by education; therefore, tailored measures are important to meet the needs of different types of taxpayers. While digitization of tax services could reduce tax compliance costs for taxpayers, women with limited education may not fully benefit from digitization because they tend to lack ownership of mobile devices and to have limited use of digital banking and wallet applications. The importance of having female staff provide tax and property registration services dedicated to women, simplifying property registration processes, and using easy Urdu and Pashto are highlighted by female taxpayers. Establishing dedicated services for women by assigning female tax officials in one-stop Tax Facilitation Centers could also help women register property and pay taxes. But to retain staff, these changes require allocation of human and financial resources, review of staff roles, additional training, instituting a gender-equitable and safe workplace environment and physical infrastructure, including bathrooms and separate areas for women. Digitizing and sex-disaggregating taxpayer and service user data could help revenue authorities develop tailored programs and services that meet the needs of women and men and monitor progress. Such data would be useful in guiding tax administrations to allocate financial and human resources.
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“Komatsu, Hitomi; Touqeer, Irum. 2023. Gender and Taxpayer Study in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan: In Preparation for the One-Stop Taxpayer Facilitation Centers. Equitable Growth, Finance and Institutions Notes - Macroeconomics, Trade and Investment. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/40359 License: CC BY-NC 3.0 IGO.”
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