Inaugural conference of the Local Government Revenue Initiative
The Local Government Revenue Initiative (LoGRI) is hosting its inaugural conference from June 13-15 in Nairobi. The conference aims to unite government administrators, policymakers, and applied researchers to explore strategies for building stronger property tax systems.
Property tax is generally the most important source of revenue for local governments. Still, it is severely under-exploited in lower-income countries, with a collection of only 0.1 – 0.4% of GDP in most countries – only about 10% of the levels many richer countries achieve.
“LoGRI is focused on supporting effective, equitable and accountable property tax systems,” said Dr Wilson Prichard, LoGRI’s Chair and Executive Director of the ICTD. He added, “Property taxes provide the fairest, most reliable, and progressive foundation for funding local governments, strengthening local service delivery and supporting meaningful decentralization.”
Property tax is an “easy” to collect tax because the revenue is mobilized on immovable properties. Unlike other local taxes, property taxes enable governments to raise revenues progressively and transparently insofar as tax liabilities are assessed concerning wealth, with high-value property owners paying higher taxes than low-value property owners. Property taxes can potentially increase local government revenues and strengthen the financial capacity of local governments to fund public services adequately, improve local government transparency and advance decentralization.
The conference, organized by the LoGRI, in partnership with the Intergovernmental Budget and Economic Council (IBEC) and the Kenya School of Revenue Administration (KESRA), will address various challenges faced by local governments in levying property taxes, managing them, and ensuring their progressive and equitable nature.
“In collaborating with IBEC and KESRA on its inaugural conference, LoGRI aims to support the emergence of stronger property tax systems to provide local governments across Africa with a more reliable and progressive financial base from which to deliver critical public services,” stated Dr Titilola Akindeinde, Executive Director of LoGRI (pictured above).
The solutions generated from the conference will then inform policy on property taxation in the different countries across the continent.
Learn more about LoGRI here and find further details about the event here.
Join Online
Several plenary sessions will be livestreamed on YouTube here. View the full conference agenda here.
Please note that the YouTube stream will not have language interpretation functions available. If you prefer to listen to either English or French exclusively, please register on Zoom, where simultaneous interpretation in English and French will be provided. Upon registration, a confirmation email will be sent to you, containing instructions on how to join the plenary sessions.