Between aid cuts and debt crises, Africa bets on its own tax systems

For decades, African governments have struggled to raise enough revenue to regularly fund their own development, whether that be for education, medicine, or infrastructure. They have relied instead on foreign aid to keep institutions running. During the Financing for Development conference in Sevilla, Spain, this year, experts said that there’s a $4 trillion annual financing gap in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals — and 40% of that gap, or $1.7 trillion, is in Africa. One of the primary culprits of this is tax collection. On average, sub-Saharan Africa collects…