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Field
Abstract
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Before
Property taxes are levied for local governments and often represent an important component in their budget funding. As such they play a crucial role in the face of increasing needs for public services in rapidly growing cities. In the context of developing countries, with cadaster shortcomings, weak administrative information and IT systems and poor enforcement tools, most local administrations experience substantial shortfall in property tax revenues. We partnered with the Senegalese tax administration (Direction Générale des Impôts et des Domaines) to develop a new property tax management system in Dakar, including an intensive fiscal census, a new data collection and management application, and the incorporation of modernized cadastral information. It's implementation through a randomized controlled trial will shed light on three questions: i) the extent and mechanisms by which this administrative investment increases fiscal capacity; ii) the respective advantages of a rule compared to discretion in the assessment of tax liability by tax officials; iii) the effects of increased local taxation on local governance dynamics and on the activities of neighborhood chiefs.
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After
Property taxes are levied for local governments and often represent an important component in their budget funding. As such they play a crucial role in the face of increasing needs for public services in rapidly growing cities. In the context of developing countries, with cadaster shortcomings, weak administrative information and IT systems and poor enforcement tools, most local administrations experience substantial shortfall in property tax revenues. We partnered with the Senegalese tax administration (Direction Générale des Impôts et des Domaines) to develop a new property tax management system in Dakar, including an intensive fiscal census, a new data collection and management application, and the incorporation of modernized cadastral information. It's implementation through a randomized controlled trial will shed light on four questions: i) the extent and mechanisms by which this administrative investment increases fiscal capacity; ii) the respective advantages of a rule compared to discretion in the assessment of tax liability by tax officials; iii) the effects of increased local taxation on local governance dynamics and on the activities of neighborhood delegates; iv) the incidence of the property tax and its effects on the real estate market.
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