This file is part of IDEAS, which uses RePEc data


[ Papers | Articles | Software | Books | Chapters | Authors | Institutions | JEL Classification | NEP reports | Search | New papers by email | Author registration | Rankings | Volunteers | FAQ | Blog | Help! ]

Land Taxes and Revenue Needs as Communities Grow and Decline: Evidence from New Zealand

Author info | Abstract | Publisher info | Download info | Related research | Statistics
Author Info
Suzi Kerr () (Motu Economic and Public Policy Research)
Andrew Aitken () (Motu Economic and Public Policy Research)
Arthur Grimes () (Motu Economic and Public Policy Research)

Additional information is available for the following registered author(s):

Abstract

New Zealand is unusual in that nearly 60% of local services are funded from property taxes. These are a mixture of land taxes, capital value taxes, annual rental value taxes and uniform general charges. We explore the efficiency and equity of this system at both national and local levels. We find that the national property tax base is large relative to spending needs but that the variance in per capita tax bases across territorial local authorities is probably greater than is efficient or equitable. We find that land taxes are more progressive than capital value taxes. Our research also addresses local authorities' ability to provide services as their property tax base changes as a result of external economic shocks. We consider the occurrence of and responses to "fiscal stress" in a system of local government that is heavily dependent on property taxation. We provide some examples of the wide range of actual responses by local councils faced with similar population changes. Finally, we offer some tentative conclusions and implications both for New Zealand local public finance and for the use of property taxes, and particularly land taxes, more broadly.

Download Info
To download:

If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the proper application to view it first. Information about this may be contained in the File-Format links below. In case of further problems read the IDEAS help file. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS site. Please be patient as the files may be large.

File URL: http://motu-www.motu.org.nz/wpapers/04_01.pdf
File Format:
File Function:
Download Restriction: no

Publisher Info
Paper provided by Motu Economic and Public Policy Research in its series Working Papers with number 04_01.

Download reference. The following formats are available: HTML, plain text, BibTeX, RIS (EndNote), ReDIF
Length: 50 pages
Date of creation: Jan 2004
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:mtu:wpaper:04_01

Contact details of provider:
Web page: http://www.motu.org.nz
More information through EDIRC

For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its listing, contact: (Marianna Kennedy).

Related research
Keywords: New Zealand local government property taxes land taxes

Other versions of this item:

Find related papers by JEL classification:
H23 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Externalities; Redistributive Effects; Environmental Taxes and Subsidies
H73 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - Interjurisdictional Differentials and Their Effects
H71 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - State and Local Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue

References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:

  1. Suzi Kerr & Dave Maré & William Power & Jason Timmins, 2001. "Internal Mobility in New Zealand," Treasury Working Paper Series 01/04, New Zealand Treasury. [Downloadable!]
  2. Suzi Kerr & Megan Claridge & Dominic Milicich, . "Devolution and the New Zealand Resource Management Act," Treasury Working Paper Series 98/07, New Zealand Treasury. [Downloadable!]
  3. David C Mare & Peter Mawson & Jason Timmins, 2001. "Deprivation in New Zealand: Regional Patterns and Changes," Treasury Working Paper Series 01/09, New Zealand Treasury. [Downloadable!]
  4. McDonald, Ronald & Taylor, Mark P, 1993. "Regional House Prices in Britain: Long-Run Relationships and Short-Run Dynamics," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 40(1), pages 43-55, February.
  5. Case, Karl E & Shiller, Robert J, 1989. "The Efficiency of the Market for Single-Family Homes," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 79(1), pages 125-37, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  6. Ballard, Charles L & Shoven, John B & Whalley, John, 1985. "General Equilibrium Computations of the Marginal Welfare Costs of Taxes in the United States," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 75(1), pages 128-38, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. Pedroni, Peter, 1999. " Critical Values for Cointegration Tests in Heterogeneous Panels with Multiple Regressors," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 61(0), pages 653-70, Special I. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  8. Wai Kin Choy & David C Mare & Peter Mawson, 2002. "Modelling Regional Labour Market Adjustment in New Zealand," Treasury Working Paper Series 02/01, New Zealand Treasury. [Downloadable!]
  9. Sheppard, Stephen, 1999. "Hedonic analysis of housing markets," Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, in: P. C. Cheshire & E. S. Mills (ed.), Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 41, pages 1595-1635 Elsevier. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  10. Suzi Kerr & Jason Timmins, 2000. "Economic Geography and Spatial Statistics: Theory and Empirics of New Zealand Regions," Treasury Working Paper Series 00/11, New Zealand Treasury. [Downloadable!]
  11. Case, Karl E. & Mayer, Christopher J., 1996. "Housing price dynamics within a metropolitan area," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(3-4), pages 387-407, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  12. Arthur Grimes & Suzi Kerr & Andrew Aitken, 2003. "Housing and Economic Adjustment," Urban/Regional 0310006, EconWPA. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  13. Levin, Andrew & Lin, Chien-Fu & James Chu, Chia-Shang, 2002. "Unit root tests in panel data: asymptotic and finite-sample properties," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 108(1), pages 1-24, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  14. Can, Ayse, 1992. "Specification and estimation of hedonic housing price models," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(3), pages 453-474, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  15. Patrick Bajari & Matthew E. Kahn, 2003. "Estimating Housing Demand with an Application to Explaining Racial Segregation in Cities," NBER Working Papers 9891, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  16. Pain, Nigel & Westaway, Peter, 1997. "Modelling structural change in the UK housing market: A comparison of alternative house price models," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 14(4), pages 587-610, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  17. Fisher, Ronald C., 1982. "Income and grant effects on local expenditure: The flypaper effect and other difficulties," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 12(3), pages 324-345, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  18. Dubin, Robin A., 1992. "Spatial autocorrelation and neighborhood quality," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(3), pages 433-452, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  19. Im, Kyung So & Pesaran, M. Hashem & Shin, Yongcheol, 2003. "Testing for unit roots in heterogeneous panels," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 115(1), pages 53-74, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  20. Feldstein, Martin S, 1977. "The Surprising Incidence of a Tax on Pure Rent: A New Answer to an Old Question," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 85(2), pages 349-60, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  21. Genesove, David & Mayer, Christopher, 2001. "Loss Aversion and Seller Behaviour: Evidence from the Housing Market," CEPR Discussion Papers 2813, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  22. Wallace E. Oates, 1999. "An Essay on Fiscal Federalism," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 37(3), pages 1120-1149, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  23. Jorgenson, Dale W & Yun, Kun-Young, 1990. "Tax Reform and U.S. Economic Growth," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 98(5), pages S151-93, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  24. W. Erwin Diewert & Denis A. Lawrence, 1996. "The Deadweight Costs of Taxation in New Zealand," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 29(s1), pages 658-73, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  25. Capozza, Dennis R. & Seguin, Paul J., 1996. "Expectations, efficiency, and euphoria in the housing market," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(3-4), pages 369-386, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
Full references

Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Arthur Grimes & Suzi Kerr & Andrew Aitken, 2004. "Bi-Directions Impacts of Economic, Social and Environmental Changes and the New Zealand Housing Market," Working Papers 04_09, Motu Economic and Public Policy Research. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  2. Arthur Grimes & Andrew Aitken, 2005. "What’s the Beef with House Prices? Economic Shocks and Local Housing Markets," Urban/Regional 0509011, EconWPA. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  3. Michelle Poland & David C Maré, 2005. "Defining Geographic Communities," Urban/Regional 0509016, EconWPA. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  4. David C Maré, 2005. "Indirect Effects of Active Labour Market Policies," HEW 0509004, EconWPA. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  5. Arthur Grimes, 2005. "Regional and Industry Cycles in Australasia: Implications for a Common Currency," Macroeconomics 0509020, EconWPA. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  6. Steven Stillman & David C. Maré, 2008. "Housing Markets and Migration: Evidence from New Zealand," Working Papers 08_06, Motu Economic and Public Policy Research. [Downloadable!]
  7. Kelly Lock & Suzi Kerr, 2007. "Nutrient Trading in Lake Rotorua: Where are we Now?," Working Papers 07_06, Motu Economic and Public Policy Research. [Downloadable!]
  8. Arthur Grimes, 2005. "Intra & Inter-Regional Industry Shocks: A New Metric with an Application to Australasian Currency Union," Macroeconomics 0509019, EconWPA. [Downloadable!]
  9. Arthur Grimes & David C. Maré & Melanie Morten, 2006. "Defining Areas: Linking Geographic Data in New Zealand," Working Papers 06_07, Motu Economic and Public Policy Research. [Downloadable!]
Statistics
Access and download statistics

Did you know? The yearly budget of IDEAS is exactly $0: it relies entirely on volunteer work.

This page was last updated on 2008-9-22.

This information is provided to you by IDEAS at the Department of Economics, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, University of Connecticut using RePEc data on a server sponsored by the Society for Economic Dynamics.