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Extending Property Taxation in Areas of Customary Authority and Tenure

LoGRI Policy Brief 07

Property taxation is the foundation for sub-national finance and effective decentralization around the world, and has been the subject of expanded attention across African countries. Yet, it remains the most under-utilized major tax type across lower and middle income countries. As countries explore strategies to strengthen property taxation, a significant number of countries confront the question of whether, and how, to tax properties more effectively in areas of customary authority and tenure. This is particularly true of properties located in peri-urban spaces, where they may be significant revenue potential. Collecting property taxes in areas of strong customary authority can improve service delivery, ensure equitable taxation across state and customary areas, and build strong links between citizens and the formal state, but also presents distinct challenges and complexities.

This policy brief reviews the following issues, particularly relevant to the context of many African countries:

  1. The importance of the issue and potential motivations for expanding taxation in territories governed by customary authorities,
  2. The key barriers and challenges to doing so in a way that not only raises revenue but also strengthens development efforts more broadly, and
  3. Potential strategies for inter-institutional coordination that may contribute to overcoming key barriers.

Authors

Wilson Prichard

Wilson Prichard is an Associate Professor at the University of Toronto, an Associate Research Fellow at the Institute of Development Studies, Chair of the Local Government Revenue Initiative (LoGRI) and former Executive Director of the International Centre for Tax and Development (2020-2024). His research focuses on the relationship between taxation and citizen demands for improved governance in Africa.

Sripriya Iyengar Srivatsa

Sripriya Iyengar Srivatsa is a Policy Economist at the Cities that Work Initiative of the International Growth Centre (IGC). She was previously a Research Associate at ICTD working on the Gender and Tax project with a focus on tax compliance. Prior to this, she was an Overseas Development Institute Fellow at the Ministry of Finance in Sierra Leone where her work has covered data-for-development, research capacity building initiatives, and studying the labour market implications of household care-burden in Sierra Leone. She is a PhD student at the University of Cambridge where her doctoral research agenda is closely tied to ICTD’s interests in the political economy of taxation and sub-national revenues. She obtained her Master's Degree in Political Economy from SOAS, University of London, and previously worked as a legislative researcher in the Indian Parliament.
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Publication Details

Publisher: University of Toronto
Date: July 2025
Citation: Prichard, Wilson., Iyengar Srivatsa, Sripriya. (2025). “Extending Property Taxation in Areas of Customary Authority and Land Tenure.” Policy Brief 07. University of Toronto: Local Government Revenue Initiative.
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