Property taxation is increasingly emerging on the international development agenda, amid growing recognition that it is an underutilised source of revenue for state building and redistribution.
The brief explores the challenges, opportunities and pitfalls of property taxation, and how it relates to land ownership, through analysis of Rwanda and Ethiopia: two rapidly urbanising countries whose recent economic growth and poverty reduction has been more consistent than most others in Africa. It presents new findings from field research in both countries which included interviews with a range of stakeholders including local and national government officials, investors and property developers.