A Research Report Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for
Award of Master of Science in Accounting and Finance Degree of
Mzumbe University
The study was about assessing the Strategies to raise Revenue in Local Authorities in
Tanzania: A case study of Sumbawanga District Council (SDC). The major objective of
the study was to examine Strategies to raise Revenue in Local Government Authorities
(LGAs) in Tanzania. The specific objectives of the study were, to study and analyze the
trends in revenue collection by the selected LGA and find its adequacy in meeting the
needs, to review the existing strategies employed in own source revenue collection and
to determine the challenges in LGA own source revenue collection.
The study used inferential and descriptive statistics such as frequencies and variances in
order to understand the important variables which influenced Strategies to raise revenue
in Local Authorities in Tanzania. SDC was chosen by researcher to represent the case.
In carrying out such study, the following independent variables; direct remittance,
Contracting and Inspection which all together influenced the dependent variable, stable
LGA revenue collection. The study involved a sample of 70 respondents.
The findings indicated that, revenue collection from own sources in SDC was very poor
and hence increased dependence to the central government to a great extent. This was
due to the fact that, the planned revenue collection goals were not met and even when
they were met they couldn‟t suffice SDC expenditure. Nevertheless the study revealed
that, SDC employed various strategies in Revenue collection from own sources
including direct remittances by the citizens liable to the government, contracting,
agency and inspection. Finally the study revealed the challenges that were inhibiting
own source revenue collection in SDC.
Based on the findings and conclusion drawn from this study, the study suggests,
effective supervision of plans and implementation of the goals by the central
government and SDC to enhance increased LGA revenue collection and more research
on ways to increase local government revenue through improving the strategies to
collect revenue from the present own source revenues.