Tax Policy and Performance of Small and Meduim Enterprises in Juba City, Central Equatoria State, South Sudan

ABSTRACT Tax policy refers to what taxes governments choose to levy, in what amounts, and on whom. It concerns broad issues such as how much tax the government needs to collect in order to pay for expenditures and the effect that taxes can have on overall economic activity. It also concerns issues of fairness -who should pay taxes, and how much - and efficiency, or whether taxes will have a distortive effect on performance of SMEs in Juba City, Central Equatoria state, south Sudan.Arelatioship between tax policy and performance of small and medium enterprises was established in the study. The study was carried based on the specific objective, that is, i)To establish the extent of tax policy in Juba city, Central Equatoria state, south Sudan,ii) To determine the level of performance of SMEs in Juba city, Central Equatoria state, south Sudan,iii) To establish the relationship between tax policy and performance of SMEs in Juba city, Central Equatoria state, south Sudan, the independent variable (Tax policy) has four indicators ,that is ,provision of tax relief, Reduction of tax rate ,Tax reform and Tax exemption. The dependent variable (performance of SMEs) is having four indicators, and this are; profitability, market share, sales volume and financial growth. Descriptive correlation design was used to determine the relationship between variables, testing of hypothesis and in development of generalizations. Sample size of 200 respondents were chosen from a population of 250 people, and a questionnaire and interviews guide were used in gathering data from the respondents. the findings from the respondent profile revealed that ,majority of them were males whose ages ranged from 32-42 years, and majority were SMEs senior managers with diploma qualifications. The study study’s findings revealed that extent of tax policy in Juba city, central Equatoria state, south Sudan is generally high and this was indicated by the overall mean of 3.1 7.the study also revealed that the level of SMEs performance is satisfactory indicated by the overall mean of 3.73 .the findings also revealed a positive relationship between tax policy and performance of small and medium enterprises in Juba city, central Equatoria state, south Sudan because the significant value of (0.000) was less than 0.05, implying that effective tax policy improved on performance of small and medium enterprises in Juba city, central Equatoria and south Sudan as well

 TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION A

APPROVAL

DEDICATION iii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iv

LIST OF TABLES viii

LIST OF ACRONMYS ix

ABSTRACT x

CHAPTER ONE 1

1.0 Introduction 1

1.1 Background of study 1

1.1.1 Historical perspective 1

1.1.2 Theoretical perspective 2

1.1.3 Conceptual perspective 4

1.1.4 Contextual Perspective 5

1.2 Statement of the problem 5

1.3 Purpose of the Study . 6

1.4 Objectives of the Study 6

1.5 Research Questions 6

1.6 Scope of the study 7

1.6.1 Geographical Scope 7

1.6.2 Content Scope 7

1.6.3 Theoretical scope 7

V

1.6.4 Time scope 7

1.6.5 Hypothesis of the study 7

1.7 Significance of the study 7

1.8 Operational Definitions of Key Terms .~ .... 8

CHAPTERTWO 10

LITERATURE REVIEW 10

2.0 Introduction 10

2. 1.Theoretical Review 10

2.2 Conceptual framework 13

2.3 Related literature 13

2.4 Indication of Gaps 28

CHAPTER THREE 29

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 29

3.0 Introduction 29

3.1 Research Design 29

3.2 Target Population 29

3.3 Sampling size 30

3.4 Sampling Procedures 31

3.5 Research instruments 31

3.5.1 Questionnaires 32

3.5.2 Interviews Guide 32

3.6 Validity of instruments 32

3.7 Reliability of the instruments 33

3.8 Data collection procedures 33

vi

3.8.1 before the administration of the questionnaires 33

3.8.2 during administration of the questionnaire 34

3.8 Data Analysis 34

3.9 Ethical Issues Observed In the Study 35

3.10 Limitations of the Study 35

CHAPTER FOUR 36

PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF RESULTS 36

4.0 Introduction 36

4.2 Relationship between tax policy and performance of SMEs in Juba city, Central

Equatoria state, south Sudan 41

4.4 Interviews Analysis

CHAPTER FIVE 45

DISCUSSIONS, CONLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 45

5.0 Introduction 45

5.1 Discussions 45

5.2 Conclusions 46

5.3 Recommendation 48

5.4 Areas for further research 48

References 49

APPENDICES 53

APPENDIX I: RESEARCH INSTRUMENTS 53

APPENDIX II: TRANSMITTAL LETTER 57

APPENDIX III: INFORMED CONSENT 58

APPENDIX IV: RESEARCHER’S CURRICULUM VITAE 59