"Overview of property tax systems across Africa. Reviews of salient features for 29 countries and four regions (Anglophone, Francophone, Lusophone, North African countries). Chapters offer in-depth discussion of key policy issues (tax base, exemptions and other relief, and tax rate), administrative issues (valuation and assessment, billing, collection, enforcement), and the future of the property tax in Africa"--Provided by publisher.
"Overview of property tax systems across Africa. Reviews of salient features for 29 countries and four regions (Anglophone, Francophone, Lusophone, North African countries). Chapters offer in-depth discussion of key policy issues (tax base, exemptions and other relief, and tax rate), administrative issues (valuation and assessment, billing, collection, enforcement), and the future of the property tax in Africa"--Provided by publisher.
In A Good Tax, tax expert Joan Youngman skillfully considers how to improve the operation of the property tax and supply the information that is often missing in public debate. She analyzes the legal, administrative, and political challenges to the property tax in the United States and offers recommendations for its improvement. The book is accessibly written for policy analysts and public officials who are dealing with specific property tax issues and for those concerned with property tax issues in general.
This is the first comprehensive overview of property taxation in post-apartheid South Africa. Presented are the perspectives of researchers who have spent years analyzing the fiscal issues facing South Africa, as well as public finance experts and practitioners from that country. The book enhances understanding of land and building taxation in specific settings and presents a case study of the complex reality of an ever-changing South Africa.
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 hasn'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.
This volume showcases the first comprehensive assessment of property tax in Asia. It provides authoritative data on legislation, tax administration practices, revenue statistics, reform proposals, new technology, and political debate to raise awareness of the potential for land-based revenue throughout these regions.
Taxation has been seen as the domain of charisma-free accountants, lawyers and number crunchers – an unlikely place to encounter big societal questions about democracy, equity or good governance. Yet it is exactly these issues that pervade conversations about taxation among policymakers, tax collectors, civil society activists, journalists and foreign aid donors in Africa today. Tax has become viewed as central to African development. Written by leading international experts, Taxing Africa offers a cutting-edge analysis on all aspects of the continent's tax regime, displaying the crucial role such arrangements have on attempts to create social justice and push economic advancement. From tax evasion by multinational corporations and African elites to how ordinary people navigate complex webs of 'informal' local taxation, the book examines the potential for reform, and how space might be created for enabling locally-led strategies.
This book examines the issues and consequences of a declining property tax base with respect to local government autonomy. Some of the nation's leading scholars provide their views on how the property tax effects intergovernmental relations, local autonomy, and education finance. --from publisher description
'. . . fine compilation of essays dealing with international land and property taxation issues. . . . the book is well researched and readable in presenting the tax systems. . . The book would be more than appropriate as additional reading for a master's level class in taxation. It could supplement an international tax class, or be used in a state and local tax class to present contrasts and complexities of the issue in other countries.' – Malichi van Tassell Tor, The Journal of the American Taxation Association '. . . this is quite an achievement. Thanks to the nature of the case studies and the contributing authors the volume is inherently international in its scope and should appeal to practitioners, teachers, and students interested in land and property taxation, international economic development, and land and real-estate studies.' – Scott Orford, Environment and Planning B: Planning and Design 'I have found the book International Handbook of Land and Property Taxation a very meaningful and enlightening book to read. The editors Bird and Slack have developed a theoretically sound framework, backed by economic conceptions in order to attempt a comprehensive treatment on tax administration on land and property. Speci?cally and yet more broadly, they have to their credit managed to throw light of sufficient depth on key issues that include the tax base and rate, the tax burden and the tax policy decision makers. The international dimension is just as imperative to consider and the editors have effectively succeeded to render an in-depth treatment in this regard. This imperative is also a unique and important contribution to empirical real estate studies within the tax discipline, and the editors should be highly commended in this effort. I am very encouraged with the academic rigor of this book publication. . .' – David Ho, Journal of Property Investment and Finance Taxes on land and property exist all over the world in many forms and are an important source of finance for local governments. The extent to which local governments have control over property taxes is often an important determinant of their ability to make autonomous expenditure decisions. This comprehensive Handbook explores case studies of land and property taxation in 25 countries (five in each of five regions – OECD, central and eastern Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America), and focuses on the potential contributions of the property tax to the revenues of urban and rural governments and to more efficient land use. Introductory chapters highlight the diversity in the application of land and property taxes among the countries. Major policy alternatives with respect to taxing land and property are discussed, including the choice of tax base, exemptions, methods of determining the tax base, tax rates, differential treatment of different classes of property (such as farms, residences, commercial properties), and the process of tax administration. Other taxes levied on land, such as land transfer taxes, development charges and unearned increment taxes, are also reviewed, as is recent experience with property tax reform in a number of countries. This major reference work will provide a valuable resource and necessary addition to the libraries of government officials, municipal associations, property assessors, international agencies, teachers and students of public finance.
