Summary
The tax on immovable property has been characterized as probably the most unpopular among tax instruments, in part because it is salient and hard to avoid. But economists continue to emphasize the virtues of the property tax owing to its relatively low efficieny costs, benign impact on growth, and high score on fairness. It is, therefore, generally considered to be underutilized in most countries. This paper takes stock of the arguments for using real property taxation, and presents an updated data-set for high-and middle income countries to illustrate its use. It also reflects the renewed and widespread interest in property tax reform globally, and discusses the many policy and administrative issues that must be carefully considered as prerequisites for successful property tax reform.
Subject: Land tax, National accounts, Personal income, Property tax, Revenue administration, Taxes, Transaction tax
Keywords: Africa, assessed value, average revenue, book value, Caribbean, collection ratio, Eastern Europe, Global, immovable property tax, immovable property taxes, Land tax, market price, Personal income, Property tax, property tax administration, property tax base, property tax reform, property tax tax revenue, property tax yield, recurrent property tax, reform while, South America, stamp duty, Transaction tax, underdeveloped property tax market, WP