Property tax and urban policy in KP
Ghazan Jamal
Special Assistant to the Chief Minister for Excise and Taxation, Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Government of Pakistan
Ali Cheema
Associate Professor of Economics, International Growth Centre
Asim Khwaja
Professor of International Finance and Development, Harvard Kennedy School of Government
Astrid Haas
Urban Economist, African Development Bank
Mujtaba Piracha
Pakistan Ambassador to the World Trade Organization, Government of Pakistan
Richard Ough
Senior Economist and Team Leader, Macro Stability and Growth, FCDO PakistanYou can watch the full event here:
The Consortium for Development Policy Research (CDPR) in partnership with International Growth Center (IGC) and Sustainable Energy and Economic Development (SEED) is organising the second session of its two-part webinar series on how to maximise provincial fiscal space by focusing on two specific taxes: sales tax on services and the urban property tax.
Senior policymakers, academics and practitioners explore international best practices, cross-country learnings and domestic experiences in Pakistan's provinces of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa focusing on improving the structure, design and administration of property tax and its role in influencing urban policy. With expert insights from the panellists, the discussion will include the following questions:
- What is the importance of urban property tax for generating revenue and influencing urban policy? What are the ways in which donor initiatives can support or are supporting Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) for urban property tax reform in the province?
- What is the role of property taxes in the overall growth of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s urban centres? How does the recent budget and initiatives reflect the government's priorities in improving the performance of the property tax? What are the reforms needed in this area to improve service delivery in cities?
- What is the overall structure and design of urban property tax in Pakistan and what interventions in design and governance can be made to address its key weaknesses and improve service delivery outcomes and provincial capacity?
- What are key learnings from urban property tax reform in Punjab that can inform better strategies to improve property tax collection?
- To what extent can developing-country experiences and international best practices support the correct implementation of urban property tax in Pakistan?
- Based on Punjab’s experience with implementing the urban property tax, what should future reforms look like for Punjab and KP?
When: 18:00 - 19:45 (PST), Friday, July 24
You can register for the event here. You can also watch the live stream on Facebook.