Citizen’s satisfaction with public services and willingness to pay taxes in Tanzania

Measuring user’s satisfaction with the public goods and services are an important component of organizational performance strategies for continual improvement (OECD, 2013). It is also a means of allowing policymakers to understand their customer base, helping to identify needs or gaps in accessibility (OECD, 2013). Public services are key determinant of quality of life and important ingredients for any poverty reduction strategy. It is well known that a highly satisfied citizen is willing to pay more taxes in regard to the utility derived from public goods or services (See, Glaser & Hildreth, 1999). This means that dissatisfied citizens are unwilling to pay more taxes due to low/poor utility derived from public goods/services (REPOA Brief, 2016). Under these scenarios, it’s clear that there might be a relationship between citizen’s satisfaction and willingness to pay taxes for public goods/services. The key question is, what kind of relationship exists? Is it linear and positive (i.e., increasing citizen’s satisfaction associated with increasing willingness to pay taxes) or vice-versa?