Formalising Land While Promoting Social Justice and Economic Benefit
When informal land is valued, transferred, or titled, it comes with many opportunities, but also great risks. James Kavanagh on beneficial standards and governance approaches.
When Tax Hits Home: Institutional Barriers to Decentralisation in Freetown
A newly proposed tax reform could quintuple Freetown’s budget for the delivery of much-needed urban services. Yet, a political stalemate may endanger the city’s push for more transparency and progress. Braima Koroma, Dr Joseph Macarthy and Yasmina Yusuf from the Sierra Leone Urban Research Centre spotlight the country’s current state of decentralisation.
Who Captures the Gain from Urban Land Value?
Urban land offers governments in developing countries a vital opportunity for self-financing development. While authorities often see these taxes as administratively burdensome and politically impossible, this doesn’t have to be the case.
“Productivity increases with the size of a city” – An Interview with Rüdiger Ahrend, Head of Urban Policy Programme at OECD
A lot of processes in cities depend on the financial resources of the municipal and national government. But how can these resources be generated? How can cities make money, how can they save money? And what role does urbanisation play? We talked to Rüdiger Ahrend, Head of the Urban Policy Program at the OECD, about how cities can approach these challenges.
Municipalities in Eastern Serbia Champion Property Tax Collection
By doubling their revenues through property taxation, nine Eastern Serbian municipalities are now able to finance projects vital to their communities.