Enhancing property tax compliance in Mandalay

This brief discusses several policy options that could improve tax compliance and tax administration in Mandalay – helping the city to escape its low-tax and underfunded services trap. Increasing the perceived benefits of paying tax – by communicating the link between tax and infrastructure – would likely encourage compliance, so long as the government can facilitate ease of payment through effective approaches to tax collection. To be effective at using such policies, cities first need strong foundations for tax administration. In particular, Mandalay could look to update its systems for property identification and assessment. The brief suggests several different approaches to do this and their associated trade-offs.