An Empirical Analysis Of Simplified Valuation Approaches For Property Tax Purposes

This research examines the potential for Market value and non Market value based banded approaches to be utilised for property tax purposes. The broad aim is to ascertain whether relatively low complexity approaches to establishing a tax base can perform adaquately in comparison to established best practice. The purpose is to provide evidence of the usefulness of such options in developing and transitional jurisdictions and elsewhere in circumsatnces which mitigate against full scale appraisal of the property tax base to Market value. Low complexity approaches are more robust in such circumstances, but have suffered from criticism due to a percieved lack of fairness and equity. This is important as Property taxes are viewed as a cornerstone of international efforts in terms of fiscal and political decentralisation. They are therefore vital to international socio-economic and political development plans. Property taxes are technically and administratively demanding - with considerable risk of failure due to capacity issues. If these taxes fail, then the developmental efforts are likely to be hampered. This research uses a large data set of sales evidence to deploy a number of robust banded property tax burden distribution mechanisms and test their performance against statistical tests drawn from industry and academic best practice. In doing this, it introduces an innovative tax bill level of analysis which allows analysis of value and non value based systems. It establishes that non value based robust banded systems can perform far better than that experienced in the GB under Council Tax or by the use of simple floor area based systems. It provides useful empirical evidence for academics, policy makers and practitioners interested in property tax performance and efforts to Introduce and embed property taxes in jurisdictions around the world.