Publication

This paper explores the role of tax-collectors and fiscal officers in Hergeisa, which is the capital of the internally unrecognized Republic of Somaliland. The author specifically examines 1) the interaction between fiscal bureaucrats and suspicious citizens; 2) the absence of state force in collecting taxes in Somaliland; and 3) the true role of today’s tax officials, which is to act as state-building agents who don’t rely on coercion.