Challenges to Property Rate Administration in the Offinso South Municipality, Ghana

Boamah, Nicholas Addai; Okrah, Maxwell

doi:10.1080/01900692.2015.1038356

Cited by 4 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…While Chinese infrastructural finance may be vital for sustainable urban development in Africa in the short to medium term, we suggest that municipal authorities should intensify their local revenue generation, in the long term, to fund most of their large-scale urban infrastructure. Increasing local revenues would require extensive exploitation of land resources and an overhaul of the property taxation systems (Asiama, 2006;Boamah & Okrah, 2016;Peterson, 2006). Additionally, municipal authorities must ensure high standards of transparency in revenue generation and expenditure management (Owusu, 2014).…”

Section: Concluding Remarks and Reflectionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The urban dimension of Chinese infrastructure finance in Africa: A case of the Kotokuraba Market Project, Cape Coast, Ghana

Asante

Helbrecht

2019

Journal of Urban Affairs

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For many years, Chinese infrastructure finance has been secured by African governments to provide infrastructure of national significance, while cities continue to lack fiscal tools for the provision of large-scale urban infrastructure. This article not only demonstrates that Chinese infrastructure finance is being extended to municipal authorities in Africa to undertake critical urban infrastructure but also scrutinizes the urban dynamics and local impact of using Chinese infrastructure finance for urban regeneration. Through empirical scrutiny of the regeneration of Kotokuraba Market in Cape Coast, Ghana, findings reveal that municipal authorities, like national governments, are subjected to political and embedded conditionalities. However, the conventional resource-backed repayment conditionality characteristic of Chinese-funded national projects differs from the project finance model-relying on the project's cash flow for repayment-adopted in Cape Coast. We found in Cape Coast a locally-driven emphasis on affordable rents that stands in stark contrast to the practice of project finance, resulting in potential default of the Chinese loan. The wider consequences of this disjuncture for urban development, financing and governance in Cape Coast, Ghana, and Africa are discussed.

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Section: Concluding Remarks and Reflectionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The urban dimension of Chinese infrastructure finance in Africa: A case of the Kotokuraba Market Project, Cape Coast, Ghana

Asante

Helbrecht

2019

Journal of Urban Affairs

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“…Therefore, the generation of local level revenue has become pivotal to advance local governance due to these emerging complexities in local development needs. Scholars have argued that land and physical properties represent the largest source of untapped local government revenue in developing countries (Asiama, 2006; Boamah, 2013; Boamah and Okrah, 2016; Dye and England, 2010; Norregaard, 2013). They assert that one of the traditional sources of finance for local infrastructure and service delivery has been property tax or rate.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Normative practices of property rating in Ghana: towards improving policy on rating undeveloped urban lands in secondary cities

Alhassan

Biitir

Derbile

2022

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PurposeThe paper examined how local authorities have attempted to rate undeveloped land as a means of mobilising revenues and the challenges associated with implementing this policy guideline. It focused on current practices in terms of policy and administration, the availability of undeveloped urban land, its revenue potential, and ways to improve policy for local land taxation.Design/methodology/approachDrawing from the mixed-method approach both qualitative and quantitative data were collected. Officials of the Wa Municipal Assembly, Lands Commission, Land Use and Spatial Planning Authority were purposely selected based on their knowledge and the roles they play in property rating practice. They were interviewed to understand their perceptions and views on rating undeveloped lands. Stratified proportionate and simple random sampling methods were used to select respondents. The respondents included land and landed property owners in three selected neighbourhoods.FindingsThe paper found that there was the prevalence of undeveloped lands mainly held by speculators and individuals constrained by financial challenges to develop their parcels. The Wa Municipal Assembly is unable to implement the policy guideline on charging rent on undeveloped lands due to lack of adequate information and generally unwillingness to implement this provision. Besides, the current guideline is too prohibitive and cannot be implemented in its current form. However, there is a window of opportunity for the Assembly to build data on undeveloped lands and moderately begin the implementation of the policy guideline.Practical implicationsUrban growth in Ghana is characterised by leapfrog development with many patches of undeveloped land in and around cities. The property taxation policies largely do not focus on undeveloped land or unimproved site value. In Ghana, property rate policy on the tax base excludes undeveloped land. However, government policy guidelines prescribe the charging of rent on these lands by local authorities. This paper provides a comprehensive discussion on the revenue potential of undeveloped urban land and why local government authorities have not been able to harness this potential. The paper has therefore recommended ways local authorities can use to mobilise revenue from undeveloped urban land.Originality/valueThere is limited research in rating undeveloped urban land especially looking at it from the perspective of policy and implementation as well as current practices. The paper shed light on the prevalence of undeveloped urban land and the guidelines that exist help local governments mobilise revenue from these lands. It contributes to the understanding that local government can harness the revenue potential of undeveloped land if policy design and implemented regarding these lands is enhanced. The paper also provides a good background and framework for further studies.

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“…Ghana has undergone substantial formal decentralisation since 1992, but PTA has continued to perform poorlyaccounting for only about 14 per cent of LG internally generated funds (IGFs) in any given financial/fiscal year (Biitir and Assiamah 2015). 1 Scholars have attributed this problem to weak capacity, enforcement, and compliance (Armah-Attoh and Awal 2013; Ayitey, Kuusaana and Kidido 2013;Boamah and Okrah 2016). This focus is important, as existing studies continue to attribute the problem of PTA to poor record-keeping, the level of compliance, and corruption among others, thus failing to note possible deeper causes of this dysfunction.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Enigma of the Central–Local Government Relationship and Its Impact on Property Tax Administration in Developing Countries: The Ghanaian Perspective

Ohemeng¹,

Mohiuddin²

2022

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Property tax administration is the bedrock for effective revenue mobilisation, development, and good local governance for local governments. Yet administering property taxation continues to be a major problem, especially for many developing countries. Scholarly explanations for this poor state of affairs have focused on limited capacity, poor quality local cadastres, corruption, and local political resistance to effective property tax administration, among others. This paper moves away from these explanations to focus on a less trodden area: the relationship between central and local government and how this relationship affects property tax administration. Property tax administration involves some collaboration and overlap between different levels of government, and thus depends very much on a good and functional relationship between both levels of government, especially when local governments derive their authorities from the largesse of central governments. This relationship may have powerful implications for the ability of local governments to effectively undertake property tax administration due to the central government’s policies and politics. Using Ghana as a case study, the paper illustrates how a dysfunctional relationship between central and local governments has undermined, and continues to undermine, effective property tax administration in the country, which should serve as a lesson for other developing countries.

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Challenges to Property Rate Administration in the Offinso South Municipality, Ghana

Cited by 4 publications

References 20 publications

The urban dimension of Chinese infrastructure finance in Africa: A case of the Kotokuraba Market Project, Cape Coast, Ghana

The urban dimension of Chinese infrastructure finance in Africa: A case of the Kotokuraba Market Project, Cape Coast, Ghana

Normative practices of property rating in Ghana: towards improving policy on rating undeveloped urban lands in secondary cities

The Enigma of the Central–Local Government Relationship and Its Impact on Property Tax Administration in Developing Countries: The Ghanaian Perspective

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