Description

The curriculum, developed and presented by the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, focused on property valuation as well as fiscal, legal, political, social and administrative issues. It included discussion of real property markets, system development and management, market value and mass valuation methods, enforcement of the property tax, and taxpayer education and services. Throughout the program, there were interactive sessions with faculty and participants and participant activities.

A theme running through this year’s course was recognition of the importance of communications of all types: from responses to taxpayer inquiries and appeals to explanations of the tax in political debate and presentations to legislators, journalists, and judicial tribunals. Clear communication based on an understanding of the technical aspects of tax administration, valuation, and collection was an essential element of a successful tax system. Case studies featured lessons from country experiences with these communications challenges.

Topics covered

The following topics were covered during the workshop:

• The property tax revenue model
• Real property markets and market value
• Mass valuation for real property taxation
• System planning and development for a value-based property tax
• Property and market information systems and data
• Market analysis and valuation methods
• Mass valuation technical standards
• Valuation of unique properties (e.g., agriculture, infrastructure, mining)
• Legal framework for value-based property taxation
• The role of one-time charges on property transfers
• Property tax collection and enforcement
• Political and social issues related to taxation of property
• Country case studies

Target audience

This course is designed for policymakers and senior level officials responsible for developing and implementing market value-based taxation of real property. Depending on current needs and reforms, these individuals may work with legislative bodies, local governments, or ministries developing policies and laws, or with central and local tax administrations responsible for valuation, tax implementation, and provision of services. This course is also appropriate for officials responsible for real property taxes, information systems, such as land cadasters, valuation of real property for tax purposes, government finance, economic development, or land policy. It should also be of interest to scholars of public finance and taxation.

Contribution from participants

Participants were requested to prepare a written report in English describing the existing taxes on land and buildings in their country, anticipated plans for or status of implementation of value-based taxation, and any specific issues for the faculty to address during the course. The guidelines for the country reports had been sent to those who applied to attend. The country reports were sent by email to the Center of Excellence in Finance one week prior to the workshop.

The course was highly participatory and included discussion questions and case problems for participants. Participants made comments about the situation in their countries and identified challenges and problems. The Faculty and other participants actively provided feedback and offered guidance and information.

Faculty

Riël Franzsen occupies the South African Research chair in Tax Policy and Governance, and is also director of the African Tax Institute in the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences at the University of Pretoria, South Africa. In 1990, he obtained a doctorate in tax law from the University of Stellenbosch (South Africa) and in 2013 also obtained a master’s degree in creative writing from the University of Pretoria. Riël specializes in land and property taxation and regularly acts as a policy advisor for the International Monetary Fund, United Nations, and World Bank. He has worked in this capacity in Africa (Egypt, Kenya, Liberia, Namibia, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda), Asia (Thailand), the Caribbean (Antigua, Dominica, Grenada, Saint Kitts & Nevis, Saint Lucia and Saint Vincent & The Grenadines) and Europe (Croatia, Georgia and Romania). Riël has acted as an instructor for the IMF (Austria, Singapore and Saint Lucia), Lincoln Institute of Land Policy (China and Slovenia), Network of Associations of Local Authorities of South-East Europe (Macedonia) and The Hague Academy for Local Governance (Lesotho). He is on the Board of Advisors of the International Property Tax Institute, regularly participates in local and international conferences, and has authored many journal papers and book chapters on land and property taxation.

William J. McCluskey joined the University of Ulster in 1986 as a lecturer in real estate. He was appointed a visiting professor of real estate at the University of Lodz, Poland in 1996 and served as professor of property studies at Lincoln University, Christchurch, New Zealand from 2001 to 2002. He is currently professor at the African Tax Institute, University of Pretoria, South Africa. Prior to joining the University of Ulster he worked with the Valuation Office in London and then the Valuation Office in Northern Ireland, where his main responsibilities involved the valuation of all types of property for property tax purposes. His main professional and academic interests are in the fields of real estate valuation and, more specifically, landed property tax.

Michal Radvan is vice-dean for foreign and external affairs at the Faculty of Law, Masaryk University, Czech Republic, and associate professor of financial law at the department of financial law and economics. He specializes in tax law, and his research is focused mainly on property taxes and local taxes. He is the author of five books and the co-author of almost 40 books. He presented his scientific research in approximately 70 reviewed articles in prestigious journals and conference proceedings. He is a member of the European Association of Tax Law Professors and the Information and Organization Centre for the Research on the Public Finances and Tax Law in the Countries of Central and Eastern Europe. He is a member of the Commission for Financial Law at the Legislative Council of the Czech Government.  

 
Dr. Lawrence Walters is emeritus professor of public management at the Romney Institute of Public Management, Brigham Young University. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania. Larry has also been a visiting faculty member at Erasmus University, Rotterdam, and Xiamen University, China. His teaching and research have focused on public finance and budgeting, with a particular focus on land-related taxes and charges. Larry has published four books and 70 articles and research reports. He has served as a consultant to over a dozen countries and several international organizations, in addition to both state and local governments within the United States. His most recent work has focused on developing training materials for government officials in developing countries on land-based financial instruments.

Nigel D. Woods is a professor at the School of Built Environment at the University of Ulster, and a valuation and property tax consultant. He is also the former Commissioner of Valuation for Northern Ireland.

Lincoln Institute of Land Policy

Semida Munteanu is senior program manager in the Department of Valuation and Taxation at the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, where she manages programming and research on international land-related taxes. In 2003, she received her B.A. from Wellesley College, where she studied economics and public finance. Semida is a native of Bucharest, Romania.

Sally Powers has been a visiting fellow in the Department of Valuation and Taxation at the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy since 2009. She was director of assessment for the City of Cambridge for 13 years until 2001, when she became an international consultant. That work has taken her to Kosovo, Montenegro, South Africa, the Kyrgyz Republic, and Turkmenistan, among other countries, where she has participated in projects on property taxation, market value revaluations, and establishment of a valuation profession for a transition economy. Sally’s career as an assessment administrator and consultant has involved all aspects of property taxation: legal framework, property appraisal, value defense, local government finance, tax policy, project planning and execution, public information, software specification and testing, cadastral/GIS (geographic information systems) mapping and analysis platforms, and tax collection and enforcement. Her research interests focus on mass appraisal, specifically the application of econometric techniques to analyze market activity and develop models to estimate the market value of properties that have not sold. She has written on topics as diverse as appraisal modeling, implementation of the local property tax in Kosovo, and property tax collection strategies. Sally received her bachelor’s degree in anthropology from the University of Chicago, and she holds an M.S. from the Boston College Carroll School of Management.

Joan Youngman is a senior fellow and chair of the Department of Valuation and Taxation at the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy. She is an attorney and author of A Good Tax: Legal and Policy Issues for the Property Tax in the United States (2016) and Legal Issues in Property Valuation and Taxation: Cases and Materials (2006). She is a co-author of State and Local Taxation: Cases and Materials (10th edition, 2014), and co-editor of Erosion of the Property Tax Base (2009) and Making the Property Tax Work – Experiences in Developing and Transitional Countries (2008).   

 

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Partners

In delivery of this learning initiative we are collaborating with Lincoln Institute of Land Policy.