AN INTER‐RACIAL LOCAL COUNCIL IN TANGANYIKA
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1002/j.1099-162X.1956.tb00511.x |
| Author | I. H. Norton |
| Date | 01 January 1956 |
| Published date | 01 January 1956 |
26
JOURNAL
OF
AFRICAN
ADMINISTRATION
more activities
than
is actually undertaken by municipalities,
the
prospects
for
the
introduction of a municipal sales or income
tax
in underdeveloped
countries are
not
very promising.
In
anumber of underdeveloped countries
afairly heavy sales
tax
has already been imposed either by
the
central or by a
provincial government. Under these circumstances, an increase in these taxes
would be inadvisable. When sales taxes are
not
imposed, their collection
would require elaborate administrative machinery
and
is beyond
the
means of
most municipalities. The administration of a municipal income
tax
is also
much
beyond
the
capabilities of local governments in underdeveloped countries.
The new taxing powers of municipalities should enable
them
to eliminate
anumber of nuisance taxes which have hampered
the
development of trade.
In
Bolivia
and
Brazil, for example, municipalities have levied special import
and
export taxes on products entering
and
leaving these cities. Recommenda-
tions to eliminate these taxes were made to
the
Government of Bolivia,
and
legislation to eliminate
them
has been passed in Brazil. Yet, since
the
muni-
cipalities have been unable to find offsetting revenues,
the
implementation of
both
the
recommendations
and
the
legislation has been delayed.
Conclusion
It
has been shown
that
municipalities in developing countries are urgently
in need of increased
tax
revenue to finance
the
general services on this level of
government in order to make it possible for
them
to
take
part
in
the
planning
of improvements necessary to implement economic development. Short of
the
extension in
the
scope of municipal
administration-and
even in the light
of
the
best intentioned efforts of central
governments-the
results are likely
to fall
short
of their intended goals.
It
has also been shown
that
municipal development falls short of desirable
norms
set
by international experts for underdeveloped countries. Consequently
more
attention
should be
paid
to the building up of municipal services in
underdeveloped countries.
The
solutions recommended in this article are :
(a) increased fiscal responsibility for
the
municipalities,
and
(b) a more careful
allocation of municipal development costs as
part
of general economic develop-
ment
plans by
the
central governments themselves.
AN'
INTER-RACIAL
LOCAL COUNCIL
IN TANGANYIKA
By
I.
H. Norton
District Officer, Tanganyika.
BEFORE
describing
the
actual stages of
the
development of local
goveI"I!'-
ment
in Newala District a brief description of the district
and
of
the
economIC
and
sociological background of its people will be of interest
and
will assist in
the
placing of
the
political development in perspective.
The
Newala District is one of
the
eight districts which make up
the
Southern
Province of Tanganyika.
It
is
about
1,750 square miles in extent, with the
Rovuma
River comprising its southern boundary with Portuguese
East
Africa.
It
has a population of approximately 175,000 Africans, 400 Asians
and
50
Europeans. Until
the
construction of improved roads
and
the
establishment
of markets in comparatively recent times,
the
district
may
be said to have
been backward economically. Significant advances in
the
sphere of local
government have only
taken
place since
the
1940's.
To continue reading
Request your trial