A Primer on Property Tax Administration and Policy

by McCluskey, William J.; Cornia, Gary C.; Walters, Lawrence C.

• ISBN13: 9781405126496
• ISBN10: 1405126493
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2013-01-04
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

Summary

This practitioner encyclopedia provides an in-depth analysis of issues surrounding property taxation, including economics, law, public finance, decentralisation, valuation and property tax reform. Its strengths lies in the vast international experience of the chapter authors and editors; it provides material that is topical, cutting edge and highly relevant to many of the disciplines involved in property taxation. Part 1 gives an overview of the property tax and its role in fostering and supporting decentralization. Part 2 focuses on the development of the property tax system itself. Part 3 considers the administrative policies and practices necessary to have a well-functioning property tax system. Part 4 provides a discussion of policymakers' attempts to pursue broader social and economic policy goals through the property tax system. Part 5 looks at various efforts to reform the property tax in countries that have a system in place deemed weak or ineffective.

Author Biography

William J. McCluskey is Reader in Real Estate and Valuation at the University of Ulster, where he received his Ph.D. in Real Estate Valuation in 1999. He has held various international positions including Visiting Professor of Real Estate at the University of Lodz, Poland, Professor of Property Studies at Lincoln University, Christchurch, New Zealand and is currently Visiting Professor in Real Estate at University of Technology, Malaysia. His main professional and academic interests are in the fields of real estate valuation, developing automated valuation methods and property tax policy. In addition, he has been an invited instructor in real estate at the African Tax Institute and the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy: China Programme. He is a faculty member of the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy and founding board member of the International Property Tax Institute.

Gary C. Cornia is the Dean of the Marriott School of Management at Brigham Young University.  He is the past president of the National Tax Association and has served as State Tax Commissioner in Utah. He has been a visiting Fellow at the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy and a visiting Scholar at the Andrew Young School of Policy at Georgia State University.   He has published a variety of articles on state and local tax policy, decentralization, and property tax.  He received his Ph.D. from The Ohio State University.

Lawrence C. Walters is the Stewart Grow Professor of Public Management at the Romney Institute of Public Management, Brigham Young University. His teaching includes courses on land and real estate taxation at the Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies, Erasmus University Rotterdam. He has over forty publications on public policy and management topics, several of which have received national awards for excellence. He has just completed a property tax policy guide for developing countries sponsored by UN-Habitat and a book on managing “wicked” environmental problems.  He received his Ph.D. from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Table of Contents

Part 1: Context and objectives; Overview and introduction; Normative criteria for evaluating a tax; Legal and cultural issues in property tax administration; Part 2: Base times rate; Defining the base; Assessing revenue potential; Non-market approaches to valuing the base; Market-based approaches to valuing the base; Rate setting; Administrative policy; Administrative practice; Billing and collection; Appeals, penalties and sanctions; Part 4: The property tax as a policy tool; Exemptions; Irregular housing; Land leasing; Economic development; The politics of the property tax; Part 5: Summing up; Property tax reform efforts and sustainability; The future of the property tax; Appendices One. Maps, GIS and cadastre; Two. CAMA (Computer Assisted Mass Appraisal; Three. Communication skills and strategies; Annotated list for further reading References Glossary Index; References; Glossary; Index INTERNATIONAL PROPERTY TAXATION