Informal taxation data set

The data was meant for the study titled, "Impact of informal taxes and transfer payments on livelihoods in Zimbabwe’s Urban Areas: A comparative study of Gweru and Bulawayo Urban." This data was collected from 281 and 92 respondents from Bulawayo and Gweru Urban respectively. Verbal informed consent was obtained from all participants with the researchers ensuring confidentiality and anonymity by coding some of the responses, and interviews were conducted privately to safeguard participant comfort and privacy. This data was then analysed using descriptive statistics and Ordinary Least Squares regression and these results were merged with the qualitative data to conclude that informal payments in the urban economies of Gweru and Bulawayo are significant determinants of household livelihoods, but their effects are stratified and paradoxical. The measurement of the variables is summarised below:
Variable Measurement
Age Years
Number of Dependents (NOD) Ordinal number
Household head (HH) Coded Yes(1) and No(0)
Level of education (LOE) Coded Secondary(0), Tertiary (1)
Marital status (MS) Coded Single(1); Married(2); Widowed(3); Divorced(4)
Residential area (RA) Coded Low density(1); Medium density(2); High density(3)
Residential property ownership status (PO) Coded Rented (0); Owned (1); Mortgaged (2)
Main Livelihood Activity (MLA) Coded Public sector (1); Private Sector(2); Own Business/Agriculture (3); Uneployed/Pensioner(4)
Monthly Income in USD (Y) Self reported (Gweru), ZiG income converted to USD @ ZiG26.5697, the official rate as at 29 September 2025 (RBZ) Coded (Bulawayo); <300 (1); 301-500(2); 501-1000(3); 1000+(4)
Other sources of income in USD (OY) Self reported, ordinal number
Total income in USD (TY) Y+OY
Monthly Expenditure (USD) (E) Total sum of all food and non-food expenditure. (include groceries, rent, mortgage payments, utilities, fees, transport costs e.tc)
Informal taxes (inf_pay) All tax like payments made by the household which include, but not limited to; vehicle tax, road block fees, tithes, payments to community groups,car radio licence, support to extended family, bank charges, toll gate fees and bribes.
Total Expenditure in USD (Texp) E+Inf_pay
International Extreme Poverty Line (IPL) The researchers used the IPL of US$4.20/day for LMICs; as revisited using 2021 PPPs in Foster et al 2025.
For each household, its IPL was calculated as $4.20*30 days*number of people in that household
Total Consumption Poverty Line (TCPL) The researchers used the TCPL as at 29 September 2025 (ZimStat, 2025)
For each household, the TCPL was calculated as 1292.8*number of people per household
Households livelihood (POV) Calculated as the difference between a household’s total expenditure less its international extreme poverty line