It is widely recognised that property taxation is the most viable, efficient, and progressive means of raising local government revenue, with significant positive implications for state-building and public accountability. However, property tax collection remains very low in the developing world, and academic research on the topic is limited. For these reasons, the ICTD decided to…
What are property taxes? Broadly, they are taxes on the ownership, occupation or legal transfer of land and buildings. They take many forms, and go under many different names. The most familiar are regular annual charges payable by the owners or occupiers of urban residential or commercial premises. In Britain we call this the Council Tax….
New publication by Nara Monkam and Mick Moore The developmental benefits of governments taxing citizens, even for modest sums, are often disregarded. African governments have long depended on revenue from natural resources or foreign aid to fund budgets. While the potential contribution that better domestic resource mobilisation could make to national finances has received greater…
It is well-established that urban property tax is among the most underutilised revenue sources in Africa. Many cities across the continent are economically booming today, with construction sectors driving economic growth and international investment in property rising. More often than not, however, this is happening in the absence of effective property taxation. This is not only a…
