An Assessment of the effect of revenue collection on local authority’s service delivery in Zambia – a case study of Kalulushi municipal council

This study empirically investigated the effect of revenue mobilization and management on the quality-of-service delivery at Kalulushi Municipal Council (KMC). The study adopted a mixed research approach and used a sequential explanatory research design. The data used in the study was collected using a mixed research approach through a survey and in-depth interviews. The study sample was 100 local tax payers selected through simple random sampling technique and 30 experts in revenue and service delivery purposively selected using purposive sampling technique. Descriptive data analysis was done using statistical packages for social sciences (SPSS 24) for quantitative data and qualitative data was analyzed by using themes. Correlation and Regression analysis were the main empirical analysis approaches for the quantitative data. The Findings of this study revealed a strong correlation (r=0.874) and a substantial regression (R= 0.759) between revenue collection and the quality-of-service delivery at KMC. The study revealed that KMC relied heavily on mining firms as their main source of revenue collection with 56% from the total revenue sources. The study also revealed revenue collection mechanisms at KMC are inefficient as the council mainly rely on the use of manual systems. However, the study revealed that the revenue collection strategies employed at KMC was effective. This was due to the payment plan and discount strategies which increased the collection of revenue whenever employed. The study further revealed that KMC faced challenges in its quest to collect revenue which included non-compliance from taxpayers, inadequate IT Infrastructure and logistical challenges. The study therefore recommended that the council should establish more revenue sources in order to reduce overdependence on one source. It was also recommended that the local authority should undertake more stakeholder sensitizations on the importance of paying tax to the council. It was further recommended that the local authority should invest in IT Infrastructure and use digitalized payment systems in order to reduce revenue leakages and address the issue of transport under revenue section. In addition, the study recommended that the council should continue with its current revenue collection strategies and introduce more of such strategies in order to maximize on the collection of revenue.