Local Government Revenue Initiative Library
Resources to enhance the exchange of tax knowledge in Nigeria
Research focusing on challenges in increasing property tax revenues in Africa
Resources on topics related to taxation in Ethiopia, ranging from tax policy to tax administration, and from academic papers to practical case studies
Amidst rapid urbanisation, cities in the Global South face major revenue needs in order to meet urgent spending priorities and to build the foundation for stronger local social contracts. Yet in practice, local government revenue raising efforts – and property taxes in particular – are frequently ineffective, inequitable and unaccountable.
The Local Government Revenue Initiative (LoGRI) aims to develop policy relevant research, knowledge, expertise, and tools to support governments to raise more local government revenue, more equitably and fairly, and in ways that promote trust, transparency, and accountability.
The LoGRI program is based at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy at the University of Toronto and expands the previous work of the African Property Tax Initiative (APTI). It is supported by funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the French Ministry of Economics, Finance and Recovery, the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad) and German Development Cooperation implemented by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH.
This library is intended to be of use to LoGRI stakeholders, with resources on the Initiative’s key themes.
Image credit: Kampala city center | Lauren Parnell Marino | Flickr | CC BY NC 2.0
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Showing 1-10 of 94 results
The politics of property taxation: Fiscal infrastructure and electoral incentives in Brazil
Southern Political Science Association, 2021Property titling enables tax collection and encourages private investment. Yet, governments across the developing world often fail to invest in land registration systems, such as cadastral maps, that record land ownership and values. In this paper, we describe and estimate the fiscal benefits and political costs that elected officials face when deciding whether to invest in this critical fiscal infrastructure. Focusing on Brazilian municipalities, we find that property tax revenue increases by over 10% following cadastre updates....Property taxation in India: Issues impacting revenue performance and suggestions for reform
Elsevier, 2021While property taxes are ideally suited for cities to generate own source revenue to provide services underpinning global competitiveness, the technical complexity of establishing tax rolls and administering them has traditionally been a deterrent to their more widespread use....Determinants of property rate default: Evidence from the Ashanti Region, Ghana
University of Technology Sydney Centre for Local Government, 2015This study seeks to assess the determinants of property rates default in the Ashanti Region of Ghana. A multi-stage sampling technique was used to study 540 respondents from one municipal and five district assemblies within the region. A structured questionnaire collected data from the sampled respondents. Descriptive statistics (means, frequency distribution and percentages) and the probit regression model were then used to analyse the data with the help of SPSS and STATA respectively....Mapping property taxes in Africa
Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, 2009Africa’s enormous challenges and equally great potential have led to intense international debate over how best to assist its citizens. According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (2009), the continent contains 33 of the 49 least developed countries in the world. Its population faces pressing needs ranging from basic health care and education to improved governance and strengthened legal systems....Thick claims and thin rights: Taxation and the construction of analogue property rights in Lagos
Taylor and Francis Group, 2020The importance of tenure security for development and wellbeing is often reduced to questions about how titles can guarantee rights, overlooking the contested and layered nature of property rights themselves. We use the case of Lagos to analyse property rights as ‘analogue’ rather than ‘digital’ in nature – things that only exist by degree, where a dynamic urban situation renders the distinction between a right and a claim much less clear than conventional approaches suggest....Taxing property owners in Dakar
International Growth Centre, 2019Property taxes in the region of Dakar offer a huge potential for local revenue mobilisation, which remains mostly untapped • Baseline results show that only an estimated 20% of plots are on the tax roll (administrative data), 12% of owners paid the property tax in 2018, and tax payments do not exceed 20% of theoretical tax revenues (survey data) • The authors partnered with the national tax administration to develop and implement a modernised property tax management system, which is being rolled-out through a randomised control trial (RCT) in the region of Dakar....Taxer les propriétaires fonciers à Dakar
International Growth Centre, 2019Les impôts fonciers dans la région de Dakar offrent un potentiel énorme pour la mobilisation des revenus locaux, qui reste en grande partie inexploité. • Les résultats d’une enquête de référence montrent que seulement 20% des parcelles sont inscrites au rôle d’imposition (données administratives), que 12% des propriétaires ont payé la taxe foncière en 2018 et que les paiements ne dépassent pas 20% des recettes fiscales théoriques (données d’enquête)....The political economy of property tax reform
Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, 2014Property taxes are generally considered by economists to be good taxes, and many countries are being advised to increase and improve their property taxes. In practice, however, property tax reforms have often proved to be difficult to carry out successfully. This paper discusses why property taxes are particularly challenging to reform and suggests several ways in which efforts to reform this tax may become more successful in the future....Urban land value capture in São Paulo, Addis Ababa, and Hyderabad: Differing interpretations, equity impacts, and enabling conditions
Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, 2020This paper presents analysis of the fiscal and equity impacts of urban land value capture instruments based on three case studies from the global south. These include the Lideta redevelopment in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; the Outer Ring Road in Hyderabad, India; and Água Espraiada Urban Operation in São Paulo, Brazil. It combines desk research with interviews of local key informants with deep knowledge of the policy and market dynamics in the three cities and representing different perspectives....Effect of information systems on revenue collection by local authorities in Homa Bay County, Kenya
Horizon Research Publishing, 2013This paper examined the effect of Information Systems on revenue collection of Local Authorities in Homa Bay, Kenya. Study objectives included establishing the relationship between internal control systems, Information Systems and revenue collection in Kenyan Local Authorities; determining the levels of quality service offered to the clients by Local Authorities and investigating whether Information Systems relate to effectiveness and efficiency of Revenue Collection....