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Revenue-Maximising or Revenue-Sacrificing Government? Property Tax in Pakistan

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  • Piracha, Mujtaba
  • Moore, Mick

Abstract

The idea that states seek to maximise their revenue collection has occupied a significant place in contemporary political economy analysis of taxation, and has helped us understand the history of state formation. It is, however, very much at variance with the daily experience of tax policy and practice. Governments are frequently revenue-sacrificers: they fail to use the functioning, legitimate tax collection systems they have available to actually collect much revenue. This paper details the case of property tax collection in Pakistan, and concludes that governments tend to maximise rule before they maximise revenue.

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  • Piracha, Mujtaba & Moore, Mick, 2016. "Revenue-Maximising or Revenue-Sacrificing Government? Property Tax in Pakistan," Working Papers 14000, Institute of Development Studies, International Centre for Tax and Development.
    • Handle: RePEc:idq:ictduk:14000
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    File URL: https://opendocs.ids.ac.uk/opendocs/handle/20.500.12413/14000
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Dincecco,Mark, 2013. "Political Transformations and Public Finances," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781107617759.
    2. Richard M. Bird, 2011. "Subnational Taxation In Developing Countries: A Review Of The Literature," Journal of International Commerce, Economics and Policy (JICEP), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 2(01), pages 139-161.
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    7. Moore, Mick, 2015. "Tax and the Governance Dividend," Working Papers 11197, Institute of Development Studies, International Centre for Tax and Development.
    8. Samuel Jibao & Wilson Prichard, 2016. "Rebuilding Local Government Finances After Conflict: Lessons from a Property Tax Reform Programme in Post-Conflict Sierra Leone," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 52(12), pages 1759-1775, December.
    9. Coffman,D'Maris & Leonard,Adrian & Neal,Larry (ed.), 2013. "Questioning Credible Commitment," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781107039018.
    10. Moore, Mick, 2013. "Obstacles to Increasing Tax Revenues in Low Income Countries," Working Papers 4666, Institute of Development Studies, International Centre for Tax and Development.
    11. Jibao, Samuel & Prichard, Wilson, 2016. "Rebuilding Local Government Finances After Conflict: Lessons from a Property Tax Reform Programme in Post-Conflict Sierra Leone," Working Papers 13739, Institute of Development Studies, International Centre for Tax and Development.
    12. M. Govinda Rao, 2013. "Property Tax System in India: Problems and Prospects of Reform," Working Papers 13/114, National Institute of Public Finance and Policy.
    13. Piracha, Mujtaba & Moore, Mick, 2015. "Understanding Low-Level State Capacity: Property Tax Collection in Pakistan," Working Papers 11182, Institute of Development Studies, International Centre for Tax and Development.
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    Cited by:

    1. Awasthi, Rajul & Nagarajan, Mohan & Deininger, Klaus W., 2021. "Property taxation in India: Issues impacting revenue performance and suggestions for reform," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 110(C).
    2. Sameen A. Mohsin Ali, 2022. "Networks of Effectiveness? The Impact of Politicization on Bureaucratic Performance in Pakistan," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 34(2), pages 733-753, April.
    3. Iqbal Thonse Hawaldar & Mithun S. Ullal & Felicia Ramona Birau & Cristi Marcel Spulbar, 2019. "Trapping Fake Discounts as Drivers of Real Revenues and Their Impact on Consumer’s Behavior in India: A Case Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(17), pages 1-20, August.
    4. Matilde Jeppesen, 2021. "What we hoped for and what we achieved: Tax performance of Semi‐Autonomous Revenue Authorities in sub‐Saharan Africa," Public Administration & Development, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 41(3), pages 115-127, August.
    5. Schmoll, Moritz, 2020. "Weak street-level enforcement of tax laws: the role of tax collectors’ persistent but broken public service expectations," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 104601, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.

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