The incidence of urban property taxation in developing countries : a theoretical and empirical analysis applied to Colombia
Linn, Johannes F.
This paper reviews and extends the theory of the incidence of urban property taxation in developing countries on the basis of a detailed quantitative analysis of property tax practices in Colombia. It begins with a description of the administration and role of urban property taxation in that country, and provides a review of conventional theory of property tax incidence. The paper then proceeds to an empirical evaluation of the incidence of local and of nationwide changes in the Colombian property tax, taking as given the currently prevailing view of property tax incidence. However, a critical analysis of the assumptions underlying this view leads the author to develop a new analytical framework. It shows that in analyzing the incidence of property taxation in LDCs one needs to consider explicity, first, the institutional structure of property tax administration; second, the segmentation of capital, commodity, and housing markets into "formal" and the "informal" sectors; third, whether the property tax is nationwide or restricted to a particular jurisdiction; and finally, the time horizon regarded as relevant for policy purposes.
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