Property tax and other wealth taxes internationally: Evidence from OECD countries

Abstract

Despite its popularity as a research topic in the United States, property taxation in other countries has not received as much attention. International comparisons of property tax systems are particularly rare in the academic literature. The purpose of this study is twofold. First, the chapter summarizes the main differences and similarities of the property tax systems in 24 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries between 1970 and 2005. We show that these countries’ property tax systems vary with regard to three different property tax characteristics: reliance, mix, and decentralization. Second, we show that a significant amount of the cross-country variations of property tax and real estate tax reliance can be explained by institutional culture, specifically the difference between Anglo and non-Anglo countries, as well as demographic and economic environmental factors such as the elderly population, income, and unemployment.

Citation

Pippin, S.E., Tosun, M.S., Carslaw, C.A. and Mason, R.M. (2010), "Property tax and other wealth taxes internationally: Evidence from OECD countries", Stock, T. (Ed.) Advances in Taxation (Advances in Taxation, Vol. 19), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 145-169. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1058-7497(2010)0000019008