The Commissioner of Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) had recommended certain measures in December 2011 to improve the revenues of the corporation and thereby narrow the existing budget gap. These included introduction of congestion and conservancy charges and revision of rates for parking...

In 1957, Jamaica converted its property tax from one based on the capital value of land and all improvements, to one based on just the unimproved value of land, i.e., to a land value tax. The adoption of the unimproved value of land as the base for Jamaica’s property tax was based on the 1944...

Section II briefly reviews the literature on the efficiency effects of the property tax. Section III presents the details of our model of local use of the property tax. Simulation results for the efficiency costs of local property taxation are presented in section IV for a variety of model...

This paper focuses on excise effects of the property tax system. The excise effects are, of course, only one element in determining the role that property taxes should play as a revenue source and tell us only part of the story on the tax’s ability to generate revenues, the incidence of the...

The property tax is almost everyone’s choice for the principal local government tax revenue source in developing countries. The focus of public policy on this tax, and the interest it has drawn from public finance scholars and practitioners are evidence of its importance. Moreover, both...

This paper presents an extended argument that the public’s feelings towards the property tax are based on an underlying legitimate concern over the fairness of market value taxation. While other factors may certainly operate, both the public opinion polls and taxpayer actions can be partially...

In this paper, we report the current state of provincial revenue raising and analyze the potential for increased revenue mobilization. In the sections below, we document the current situation regarding local revenue capacity and mobilization in Pakistan using case studies of Punjab and...

It is well established that revaluation and the use of current market value in principle as the underpinning for the property tax base will improve the equitable distribution of the property tax between taxpayers. Because the market place is dynamic and ever-changing, and the property tax is an...

South Africa is at a crossroads in its decentralization policy. On the one hand, it has declared its intention to strengthen the fiscal powers of local governments. On the other hand, the institutional arrangement necessary to guarantee fiscal decentralization, the power to raise local revenues,...