Making The Property Tax Work

by Bahl, Roy; Martinez-Vazquez, Jorge; Youngman, Joan

• ISBN13: 9781558441736
• ISBN10: 1558441735
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-03-30
• Publisher: Lincoln Inst of Land Policy

Summary

Students of public finance and fiscal decentralization in developing and transitional countries have long argued for more intensive use of the property tax. It would seem the ideal choice for financing local government services. Based on a Lincoln Institute conference held in October 2006, the chapters in this book take this argument one step further in drawing on recent experience with property tax policy and administration. Two main sets of issues are addressed. First, why hasnrs"t the property tax worked well in most developing and transitional countries? Second, what can be done to make the property tax a more relevant source for local governments in those countries? The numerous advantages of the property tax as a local government revenue source are analyzed and discussed in detail as are the many perceived disadvantages.

Table of Contents

Introduction

The Property Tax in Practice

The Setting

The Property Tax in Development and in Transition

The Determinants of Revenue Performance

Fairness, Political Issues, and Scope

Incidence and Economic Impacts of Property Taxes in Developing and Transitional Countries

Property Tax and Rural Local Finance

Alternate Value Capture Instruments: The Case of Taiwan

Data Collection and Information Technology

Data Challenges in Implementing a Market Value Property Tax: Market and Market-Informed Valuation in Russia, Ukraine, and the Baltic States

Computer-Assisted Mass Appraisal Options for Transitional and Developing Countries

Approaches to Valuation

Is Area-Based Assessment an Alternative, an Intermediate Step, or an Impediment to Value-Based Taxation in India?

The Feasibility of Site Value Taxation

Property Rights, Collections, and Enforcement

Taxing Land Without Market Value in Ancient China

Extending Property Taxation into Previously Untaxed Areas: South African Townships and Tribal Areas

Collection and Enforcement of the Property Tax

The Baltic Experience

Land Taxation Reform in Estonia

Value-Based Property Taxes in Lithuania

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