Property rate in Ghana: a poor local revenue source or underexploited potential?

Abstract

This article aims to assess whether or not property rates in Ghana are a good potential source of local revenue. Through detailed analysis of six local government case studies, we find that present prospects for most rural local areas to raise substantial rate revenue are circumscribed, but in urban councils they are more promising. Nevertheless, no council is able to collect rates fully and from all rateable properties. This is attributed to several factors: the politicisation of taxation; ethnic homogeneity; intergovernmental transfers; partisan local government elections; resistance caused by elite design; and the denial of public information. Although these factors have been identified in previous literature, the study includes new findings which challenge received academic thinking on how they affect local tax collection in developing countries.

Keywords

• Ghana
• property rate
• decentralisation
• rural-urban disparity
• local government