Assessing Factors Affecting Revenue Management in Public Sector: The Case of Halaba Special Woreda Town Administration Ethiopia (SNNPR)

Abstract

<em>Revenue management plays a great role for achieving the national objective of any nation which enhances the economic development and social wellbeing of the society. Even though revenue management has paramount importance for achieving the national goal of any nation, developing countries revenue management including, Ethiopia, is affected by a number of factors. The empirical findings of this research indicates that there are a number of factors that affect revenue management such as, Lack of awareness of tax payers, in adequate assessment of taxable sources, lack of clear operational procedures and so on, this research, thus intended to assess factors affecting public sector revenue management in Halaba special woreda Town administration (SNNPR). The specific objectives of the study are to identify the major factor that affect revenue collection, factors taken into consideration for revenue planning and to know the extent of revenue management mechanism help in revenue management of Halaba special woreda Town administration. Based on that fact, different literatures concerning the issue were reviewed to achieve these objectives; descriptive research method and stratified sampling were employed to gather data. Primary data were collected using semi structured questionnaires, interviews, focus group discussion and observations. Respondents who have participated in the study were employees (366) a sample of 88 were randomly selected from the Town administration of Halaba special woreda and taxpayers (151) a sample of 67 are randomly selected who have registered in the Inland revenue office, the study employed the Inland revenue management committee members (7) for focus group discussion and 4 from 6 Mayor Committee members for interview purposively selected. The total population of the study was 500 and the total sample size was 166. According to the response of the respondents, the factors that affected revenue management of Halaba special woreda Town administration are poor implementation, poor planning, inadequate assessment of taxable sources, lack of required skill, attitudinal problems of revenue officers, inaccurate information of taxpayers, lack of full automation and lack of awareness of taxpayers. Finally, based on the findings, possible recommendations are suggested, these include, widening the town’s revenue sources base, improving planning and implementing capacity, establishing adequate data base systems, raising continuous awareness for taxpayers, institutionalizing standard accounting system that produces timely and reliable information, encouraging community participation in planning and revenue collection and need for designing the reward system.</em>