The property tax is considered to be a good tax for local governments, yet property tax revenues rarely account for more than 3 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in any country. This paper explains why the property tax is under-used by highlighting some of the problems with the tax.
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This paper explores the financing of services and infrastructure in large cities and metropolitan areas. Do large cities spend more than smaller cities? Do larger cities have greater fiscal capacity? Are large cities treated differently from other cities? What are the appropriate revenue sources for large cities?
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This paper identifies some key reforms needed to ensure more citizen participation and greater accountability in urban governance, and to augment and strengthen the capacity of Indian cities to deliver more adequate services and provide needed urban infrastructure.
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Using a panel of data on the financing of the United States’ largest central cities from 1997 to 2008, the empirical results of this paper provide strong support for the hypothesis that a more diversified revenue structure generates more revenues than one that relies primarily on the property tax.
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This presentation was delivered by Larry Beasley at an event co-sponsored by Ideas That Matter on December 6, 2006, with two panel presentations: Planning in Toronto: What's the Problem?, chaired by Paul Bedford, including panelists Julie Di Lorenzo, Frank Lewinberg, and Gary Wright; and Amenities for Density: Section 37 of the Planning Act, chaired by John Lorinc, with a presentation by Larry Beasley, and panelists Steve Diamond, and Ted Tyndorf.
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The current division of spending responsibilities among the three orders of government and their ability to use own-source revenues to fund these responsibilities has led to concerns about the existence of a vertical fiscal imbalance. This paper provides an assessment of trends in the levels of expenditures and revenues by all three orders of government, trends that are important in assessing the extent to which there is a fiscal imbalance.
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IMFG has an opening for an Administrator. The deadline for applications is February 12, 2018.
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A presentation by Adam Found, the 2010 recipient of the Alan Broadbent Graduate Fellowship in Municipal Finance and Governance funded by the Diamante Development Corporation and Dr. James Wong, on April 21, 2010 at the Munk School for Global Affairs.
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