This paper examines the progressivity of social sector expenditures and taxes in eight
sub-Saharan African countries. It uses dominance tests to determine whether health and
education expenditures redistribute resources to the poor. The paper finds that social services
are poorly targeted. Among the services examined, primary education tends to be most
progressive, and university education is least progressive. The paper finds that many taxes
are progressive as well as efficient, including some broad-based taxes such as the VAT and
wage taxation. Taxes on kerosene and exports appear to be the only examples of regressive
taxes.