Assistant, Département de Sociologie, Faculté des Lettres et Sciences Humaines, Pôle de Recherche et d’Expertise sur la Dynamique des Espaces et des Sociétés (PREDES), Université de Kara, Kara, Togo
The development of decentralized local authorities in Togo passes through the contribution of citizens to the tax base through the payment of taxes and levies. However, the municipalities, like the whole country, are confronted with fiscal incivility. Thus, this research wanted to understand the explanatory factors of taxpayers' resistance to paying taxes. To do this, she combined the method of documentary analysis and the realization of 34 in-depth individual interviews with resource persons in three communes of Togo, namely, the commune Tchaoudjo 1, the commune of Assoli 1 and the commune of Kozah1. The research highlights the socio-historical, political, social and communication factors, which explain the tax incivility of Togolese taxpayers. In addition, citizens' crisis of confidence in tax collection and management services is another major obstacle to tax compliance. These challenges need to be taken up through sustained education in social accountability for better appropriation from below of democratic values that should make it possible to initiate sustainable local development.