Raising fiscal revenues: The political economy of Somali trade taxation

This chapter analyses the political economy of taxation by a host of state, state-like and non-state authorities in the Somali territories. Taxation is at the heart of state making, but Somali state(s) don’t have a monopoly on taxation. The authors shed light on the multiple revenues generated from the taxation of commodity flows, on the politics of circulation that evolve as different authorities compete over revenues from different hubs and routes in the region, and on various ‘tax games’ playing out between traders and taxing authorities, ranging from tax bargaining to avoidance of heavily taxed routes. Finally, the chapter considers the effects of trade taxation on fiscal social contracts, state (un-) making, and inequality among larger and smaller trade operators.