When you are going to give an opinion about something with which you are not familiar, it is necessary to say so beforehand. For this reason, I must confess that I will be writing about something of which I know very little and, therefore, it will be very brief. However, I do it to share with you a different experience, I believe. Having said this:

Since the late 90’s approximately, some tax administrations have developed exercises aimed at improving the tax culture. These efforts have pursued different strategies, some of them aimed at children and adolescents, by instilling in them values related with voluntary compliance and the social responsibility of citizens. These programs were given such names as Fiscal Education, Tax Education, Tax Culture, Fiscal Citizenship or Fiscal Information. In some cases, in cooperation with the ministries of education, sections were created with particular contents associated with the study of citizenship and civics or specific taxation subjects.

In addition, other methods have been sought for disseminating these ideas, beginning with specific contents in the administrations’ sites in Internet or others, perhaps more creative, such as the introduction of playful game spaces as “RecreHacienda”(Finance Recreation) in El Salvador or “Aprendiendo con Don Fisco” (Learning with Mr. Treasury in Bolivia. Spaces have also been generated for understanding the importance of compliance, as “Un tributo a mi país” (A tribute to my country) in Costa Rica. Likewise, plays have been produced, such as those describing the adventures and misfortunes of Simón Abel Tax vis-a-vis the “Scoundrel” in Guatemala; or the creation of symbolic characters such as Ivo of the SII in Chile. There have also been participative alternatives, like the competition of schools in the program “Exigí, comprá y ganá” (Demand, buy and win) in Paraguay, among several practices of tax lotteries; or advertising campaigns on compliance (or the consequences of noncompliance).

We will find a series of information resources available for consultation in the Red de Educación Fiscal (Tax Education Network) wherein I especially recommend “Educación Fiscal y Construcción de Ciudadanía en América Latina” (Tax Education and the Structuring of Citizenship in Latin America) by Borja Díaz Revilla and Antonio Lindemberg.

In a recent visit to the Kenya Revenue Authority – KRA, I learned about a new experience inspired in the aforementioned Latin American ones, which were commented by the KRA Commissioner, John Njiraini. It deals with the inclusion, in addition to specific subjects covering local taxes and customs duties, of the role of  the KRA or the use of taxes, and taxation issues within the curriculum of the educational system, in six subjects ranging from mathematics, natural sciences and English. To mention some examples, when learning to calculate financial interest, some exercises will deal with the calculation of fines and interest resulting from the belated payment of taxes and one or other essay in studying English will discuss why it is important to pay the fair amount of taxes. What do you think?

Regards and good luck.

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