Property Tax Administration in Francophone Africa: Structures, Challenges, and Progress

Abstract

In the context of a widespread focus on decentralization in Africa, there exists an imperative to find suitable ways to maximize potential own revenue sources at all sub-national government levels. This need in particular and the need for greater domestic resource mobilization by African states in general, has been exacerbated by the current global financial crisis that has led many countries into recession and left developed and developing countries alike scrambling to find solutions at home. In that regard, it has been widely suggested that property taxes would represent an important, if not the best, source of stable revenue at the sub-national level in both developed and developing countries. This paper analyses property tax systems as practiced in some francophone African countries, by identifying major issues and constraints they face; it also explores avenues to strengthen property tax as a source of national and/or municipal revenue.