CAMBRIDGE, Mass., June 26, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/
-- Africa's rapid growth and urbanization will require stable
local governments to deliver goods and services to billions of
people, and the continent can look to an underutilized source of
revenue, the property tax, write the authors of a book published by
the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy.
In Property Tax in Africa: Status, Challenges, and
Prospects (Paperback $40.00, 625
pages: ISBN: 978-1-55844-363-1), Riël Franzsen and William McCluskey of the African Tax Institute
at the University of Pretoria
provide the first comprehensive study of the property tax in
Africa, laying out challenges,
opportunities, and pathways to improvement. They analyze property
tax systems in 29 countries and offer four regional overviews,
highlighting the key political, administrative, and technical
issues that affect how these systems function.
The book comes at a critical time for Africa. The world's fastest growing continent,
Africa has added more than 500
million people since 1990, and by 2050 it will hold a quarter of
the world's population. The continent is rapidly urbanizing, and
together with Asia will absorb
most of the world's urban growth in the coming decades.
"Nowhere are the fiscal challenges of urbanization more
pronounced than in Africa,"
Lincoln Institute President and CEO George W. "Mac" McCarthy writes
in the book's forward. "Establishing high-functioning systems
capable of delivering reliable annual revenue flows to help cities
make ends meet will require a lot of work. But there is plenty of
room for optimism."
The property tax contributes relatively little revenue in most
African countries, representing only 0.38 percent of gross domestic
product, on average, compared to more than 2 percent the mostly
developed countries that make up the Organisation for Economic
Co-operation and Development (OECD). Property Tax in
Africa identifies many common
challenges, including poor tax collection and enforcement, weak
administration, and inadequate systems for assessing property
values.
Despite the relatively low utilization of the property tax in
most African countries, some cities generate significant revenues
from the tax. The property tax represents 42 percent of all
locally generated revenue in Freetown,
Sierra Leone, 23 percent in Nairobi, Kenya, and 21 percent in Accra, Ghana, for example.
The book also highlights some successes in cities that have been
able to bolster their property tax systems. The city of Kitwe,
Zambia undertakes supplementary
valuations, which have increased the number of properties on the
tax rolls and increased assessed values, leading to greater
revenue. In Kampala, Uganda,
officials from the national Uganda Revenue Authority and the
Ministry of Finance collaborated with the local government to set
up a new office for revenue collection, which more than doubled the
collection of property tax in four years.
A resource for property tax scholars as well as public officials
and practitioners on the ground, the book makes recommendations for
improving the performance of the property tax in Africa, including the following:
- Thoroughly analyze the property tax system and decide how it
relates to national economic development goals.
- Audit the legal underpinnings of the property tax and redraft
laws, as needed, to lay the groundwork for more effective
systems.
- In most countries, concentrate reform in the largest
cities.
- Focus on collection and enforcement systems first.
- Plan gradual transitions that allows the tax administration to
catch up and taxpayers to get used to the new system.
In addition to continent-wide and regional overviews, the book
includes detailed analyses of the 29 countries: Benin, Botswana, Cabo
Verde, Cameroon,
Central African Republic,
Cote d'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Equatorial
Guinea, Gabon, The
Gambia, Ghana, Kenya,
Liberia, Madagascar, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra
Leone, South Africa,
Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
Praise for Property Tax in Africa
"This one-of-a-kind study is an indispensable source for
academics and policy makers who seek to explore the virtues of the
property tax. The relevance of this volume clearly transcends the
continent it embraces, and pertains to the large majority of
countries at the global level that are now engaged in developing a
property tax. This is a very impressive book."
John Norregaard
Tax Policy Consultant
Former Member of IMF Tax Policy Team
"Property Tax in Africa
is a remarkable book. Those interested in improving urban services,
land administration, and tenure security in Africa will find this book invaluable. There
is no comparable resource available in terms of breadth or depth of
insights into land taxation, administration, and policy in
Africa."
Lawrence Walters
Emeritus Professor of Public Management
Romney Institute
Brigham Young University
"Property taxation is high on any list of possible solutions to
harness Africa's wealth for the betterment of its people. The
authors greatly add to our understanding of the challenges faced
and have created an invaluable resource to guide policy
development. This book will rapidly become required reading for all
students of the property tax in Africa."
Peadar Davis
Senior Lecturer in Property Appraisal and Management
School of the Built Environment
Ulster University
About the Authors
Riël Franzsen occupies the South African Research Chair in Tax
Policy and Governance and is also director of the African Tax
Institute at the University of Pretoria,
South Africa. He has a doctorate in tax law from the
University of Stellenbosch (South
Africa) and a master's degree in creative writing from the
University of Pretoria. He
specializes in land and property taxation and regularly acts as a
policy advisor for the International Monetary Fund, United Nations
Food and Agriculture Organization and World Bank. He has worked in
this capacity in Africa
(Egypt, Kenya, Liberia, Namibia, Rwanda, South
Africa, Tanzania and
Uganda), Asia (Thailand), the Caribbean (Antigua, Dominica, Grenada, Saint Kitts
& Nevis, Saint Lucia
and Saint Vincent & the Grenadines) and Europe (Croatia, Georgia, Romania and Serbia). He has acted as an
instructor for the IMF (Austria,
Singapore and Saint Lucia), Lincoln Institute of Land Policy
(China and Slovenia), Network of Associations of Local
Authorities of South-East Europe
(Macedonia) and The Hague Academy
for Local Governance (Lesotho). He
is on the Board of Advisors of the International Property Tax
Institute, regularly participates in local and international
conferences and has authored many journal papers and book chapters
on land and property taxation.
Dr. William McCluskey joined the
University of Ulster in 1986. He was appointed as Professor of
Property Studies at Lincoln University,
Christchurch, New Zealand from
2001-2002. He is currently Extraordinary Professor at the African
Tax Institute, University of Pretoria,
South Africa. His main professional and academic interests
are in the fields of real estate valuation, property tax systems,
computer assisted mass appraisal modelling and geographic
information systems. He is a technical adviser on property tax
issues with the International Monetary Fund, World Bank and United
Nations Food and Agriculture Organization and has been involved in
a number of missions advising on ad valorem tax issues in countries
including Albania, Bermuda, Botswana, China, The Gambia, Georgia, Jamaica, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kosovo, Lesotho, Northern
Ireland, Philippines,
Poland, Mauritius, Republic
of Ireland, Slovenia,
South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda. He is a Fellow of the Royal
Institution of Chartered Surveyors.
About the Lincoln Institute
The Lincoln Institute of Land Policy seeks to improve quality of
life through the effective use, taxation, and stewardship of land.
A nonprofit private operating foundation whose origins date to
1946, the Lincoln Institute researches and recommends creative
approaches to land as a solution to economic, social, and
environmental challenges. Through education, training,
publications, and events, we integrate theory and practice to
inform public policy decisions worldwide.
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SOURCE Lincoln Institute of Land Policy