NOVAFRICA Blog: How Talking About Public Revenue Use Can Boost Tax Morale — Lessons from Mozambique

In many developing countries, including Mozambique, tax compliance and public revenue remain critically low, limiting governments’ ability to fund essential services. Weak state capacity, low trust in governance, and poor communication about how tax money is used are among the main drivers. Yet without adequate revenue, cities cannot maintain roads, manage waste collection, or prepare for natural disasters. This creates an urgent need for cost-effective strategies that can improve tax morale. A recent study by Wayne Sandholtz and Pedro Vicente (2024) offers a promising evidence that strategic communication can make a real difference.

A Field Experiment in Mozambique

The study was conducted in Quelimane, a coastal city of nearly half a million residents, where municipal tax collection is strikingly low. Researchers partnered with the city government to carry out a field experiment with around 900 property owners randomly assigned one of the four groups:
• Public goods message: shown concrete examples of how tax revenue had been used by the local government to finance road paving, drainage improvements, and sanitation.
• Political autonomy message: heard a message emphasizing the need for local tax collection to ensure city’s autonomy from the national government.
• Combined message: received both messages
• Control group: only received factual information about property tax rates and the city’s budget.
Researchers then measured participants’ willingness to pay taxes, actual contributions in a real money public goods game, and their political preferences.

What They Found

The results were striking. Providing citizens with visible evidence of how their taxes are were used substantially increased their willingness to pay property tax by about 14% and boosted real contributions to a public fund by nearly 30%. The effect was particularly strong in areas with initial low levels of public good provision.
By contrast, the political autonomy message did not increase tax morale – and when combined with the public goods message, it actually neutralized its positive effect. Interestingly, only supporters of the opposition party governing Quelimane, responded positively to the political autonomy message.
In short: Citizens are motivated by tangible results, but political framing can undermine trust when it appears partisan or self-interested.

Why It Matters

For policymakers across developing countries, the takeaway is clear: communicating concrete results is a powerful governance tool. When governments transparently show that tax revenue finances real visible improvements – such as roads or sanitation – citizens are more willing to contribute. Simple and credible messages like “Your taxes built this road” can meaningfully raise tax morale and strengthen state-citizen trust.

In the end, effective communication is not just a complement to public service delivery – it is a key driver of better governance.

Download the Working Paper here.

Authored by: Paula Garcia Rau, MSc. in Development & Public Policy and NOVAFRICA Student Group