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The purpose of this paper is to test the theory of optimal monitoring, which posits that more generous county homestead exemptions lower the incentive for residents to monitor school operations, thereby increasing inefficiency in service outcomes.

This research uses two-stage Simar and Wilson’s data envelopment analysis to assess county school districts’ efficiency in the state of Georgia for each year from 2007 to 2012.

Controlling for other factors known to be correlated with government efficiency, such as fiscal capacity and competition, this study finds evidence that higher property tax burdens resulting from lower county school district homestead exemptions, as a proxy of more intense citizens’ monitoring pressures, are associated with improved county school district performance efficiency. These results provide empirical support for the theory of optimal monitoring.

Increased government funding toward education is more likely to improve education outcomes if accompanied by efficiency control mechanisms. One such mechanism could be increased transparency of government operations and accountability of public officials.

This research uses a newer and more robust estimation of relative efficiency and analyzes a more common type of property tax exemption. This improves the internal validity and generalizability of the findings regarding the theory of optimal monitoring.

Many existing studies point to the political contentiousness of attempts by states in the 19th century to impose property taxes, which after mid-century comprised the main source of state revenues. Yet studies fail to establish a convincing connection between interest group political effectiveness and resulting favorable property tax legislation. This paper takes a closer look at one state that adopted property taxation in the mid-19th century and documents intense inter-occupational conflicts between miners and ranchers over creation and administration of the system of property taxes. These conflicts occurred for various institutional reasons, including differential costs of enforcing tax collection and the short-lived political ascendance of miners during, and in the years following, the Gold Rush. The empirical results strongly suggest short-term capture by miners of the state legislature, followed by loss of capture ability as gold declined in economic importance in the 1860s.

This study aims to evaluate the property tax base under the local government property taxation in Nairobi City and its implication on revenue adequacy of the city. Nairobi has grown both in population and in physical extent resulting to increased demand for urban services. The city faces challenges of adequate infrastructure service provision against increasing demand. Property taxation if fully exploited can be a major source of city government revenue, which has been dwindling.

Literature review of property tax bases in the world and examination of best practices was done to highlight the inadequacies of property tax base administration in Nairobi. Primary data were gathered through interviews of officers in Nairobi City involved in the land rating process. Secondary data were obtained through documentary search and field survey of the study area.

The study established that Nairobi relies on a dual system of taxation, namely, site value rating and area rating. Tax is on vacant land only and excludes improvements. There are many legal exemptions and administrative exclusions from the tax base. The property tax registers do not include all the taxable properties and there is no regular updating of the tax registers. Nairobi relies on an outdated valuation roll whose values have no relation to the current market values.

These factors have resulted to a narrow tax base, which affects the revenue potential of the city and its ability to adequately provide infrastructure services.

This is an original research, which relied mainly on primary data. To establish the property tax bases and the exempt properties in Nairobi, the researchers interviewed the officers at the Nairobi city land valuation and property management directorate using structured questionnaires. To address the third objective on whether the property tax base is complete and all-inclusive, the research relied on primary data. The research population was residential properties in Buruburu, Kilimani and Riruta areas of Nairobi city. The sample data on property details were collected from the Ministry of Land and Physical Planning (MLPP). The researchers then examined the records at the Nairobi City to evaluate whether the properties, which are registered at the MLPP, are charged land rates at the city level and at what amounts. This included properties under site value rating and area rating.

This paper investigates whether an outcome-based school aid formula could improve fiscal and outcome equity significantly more than a typical aid formula would. When outcome-based formula is applied to foundation aid, fiscal and outcome equity deteriorates compared to Ohio's recent aid formula. However, when it is applied to power-equalizing aid, the latter improves fiscal and outcome equity more significantly than both foundation aid and Ohio's recent aid formula do. This paper further shows how to apply them to real-world cases. The lessons from this paper can be easily applied to similar grant systems with standardized test scores.

The purpose of this paper is to give a recommendation to the municipalities what local tax/taxes sensu largo (a waste charge or an immovable property tax increased by a local coefficient) are to be collected to achieve expected and necessary incomes and limit the administrative costs.

To reach the aim, it was necessary to analyze the number of municipalities increasing the property tax by the local coefficient and abolishing the charge on communal waste to save money for the waste charges administration. The evidence of municipalities applying the local coefficient was used as a basis for the research. To get the information on charges on communal waste collected in these municipalities with the local coefficient within the past at least five taxable periods, the information from Monitor was used. If there was any such a significant change, then it was necessary to use the bylaws and to do thorough analysis of the reasons.

The hypothesis that a high number of municipalities in the Czech Republic are replacing the charge on communal waste with the local coefficient applicable for the immovable property tax was rejected. In the opinion of the author, the ideal approach is to have just one local tax – immovable property tax. This tax is administered by the state tax office and the revenue should cover the cost of waste management. Adopting only the property tax increased by the local coefficient, it is necessary to explain the benefits to the taxpayers, that is, locals and voters.

The research on the given topic was never done in the Czech Republic, as there is no evidence of local charges collected in individual municipalities.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an insight into how the new energy efficiency legislation in the UK is impacting upon the valuation of certain properties. This paper looks at how to adapt implicit valuation models to reflect the new risks of the impact of legislation.

This practice briefing is an overview of the new legislation and comments on the appropriateness of valuation models in different scenarios.

This paper analyses the likelihood of capital and rental value changes under the new energy efficiency guidelines.

The role of the valuer in practice is to identify the impact of the new legislation on the value of the subject property and choose the correct model for the valuation task in hand.

This provides guidance on how valuations can be undertaken to reflect any impact of the new energy efficiency legislation.

The magnitude and immediacy of threats to the sustainability of state government programs call for significant changes in how we think about and make policies that influence the public budget. The Great Recession's prolonged battering of state budgets exhausted cutback strategies and has left policy makers with few options, producing a decision gridlock that is inescapable using traditional functional and line-item budget perspectives and embedded practices. Transforming state budgets requires an uncommon view. This paper identifies and describes seven overarching and pervasive habits in state policy making that contribute to unsustainable budgets. Although the applicability and commonness of each habit will vary by state, both individually and as a set the seven habits impart important handles for gaining greater control over a state's fiscal directions and fortunes.

Biodiversity conservation tax incentives were inserted into the Income Tax Act 58 of 1962 in terms of the Revenue Laws Amendment Act 60 of 2008 and are now contained in section 37C. The objectives of this study were to quantify the maximum potential revenue loss, to National Treasury, as a result of these tax incentives granted to landowners in the Western Cape; to identify and discuss alternative policy instruments to encourage conservation; and to investigate the perceptions of landowners in the Western Cape on the tax and alternative incentives available for conservation. The study found that the maximum tax revenue foregone should amount to a tiny percentage of total estimated revenue income for the 2008/2009 fiscal year, while projected future losses could also be insignificant. Landowners prefer direct financial incentives and exemption from property taxes, and contend that direct assistance with conservation activities would also be beneficial. The use of municipal value in the valuation of land would promote objectiveness and consistency. Finally, only a third of the landowners indicated that tax incentives would encourage them to commit more land for conservation.

Airports are the portals where international air transport networks, which are increasingly important in a globalized, services-oriented economy, intersect with regional and metropolitan ground transportation networks. Our hypothesis is that, at this nexus, the degree of international connectivity at an airport and distance from the airport manifests itself in the value of commercial properties. As such airports are shaping the urban form around them and highlight the importance of integrated metropolitan and airport planning. Looking at Canada’s two largest international airports at Toronto, Ontario and Vancouver, BC, and controlling for other factors, we see evidence that commercial properties decrease in value as distance to the airport increases and increase in value as the range of international frequencies and destinations available at the airport increase. We introduce a new concept of land-use at and around airports of “aviation-dependent” which would include hotels and corporate head offices, in addition to the traditional “aviation-related” and “aviation-compatible” uses. We see the effects of distance and connectivity are particularly pronounced on commercial properties occupied by aviation-dependent uses.

US tax-exempt nonprofits are chronically underdeveloped when it comes to reporting, communicating and comparing the value they create. This paper aims to explore an approach to address these reporting and disclosure issues, for the purpose of sustainability and impact.

First, the authors ask and then answer: is it time to clean up US tax-exempt nonprofit reporting? Second, the authors develop a theoretical argument, based on commensuration of impact, for a specific tax-exempt integrated report (IR), to compare the value of tax-exempt nonprofits. Third, this study offers an example of this tax-exempt IR in practice.

First, this study evidences the need for a drastic shift in the expectations and reporting practices of US tax-exempt nonprofits. Second, this study offers an IR framework that responds to recent scholarly calls to address organizational accountability boundaries and impact assessment in the nonprofit sector. Third, this contributes to sustainability policy conversation by mapping out an approach that US tax-exempt nonprofits could deploy to speed up the implementation of sustainable solutions (Sustainable Development Goal [SDG] 17).

This study contributes to sustainability conversation by closing with a discussion of why policymakers, managers and scholars should continue to push for maximum impact from US tax-exempt nonprofits. If addressing the UN SDGs is a desired outcome, then there is an immediate need for change in the way US nonprofits report what they do. This study suggests that learning from the European Union reporting practices and regulations will facilitate a move toward improved reliability, comparability and impact from US nonprofits.

The aim of this paper was to present a disclosure framework that provides reliable and comparable information of the value created by tax-exempt nonprofits. This principle-based framework is rooted in the IR literature and extends into the prosocial world of tax-exempt nonprofits, recognizing that is it goes farther than simply being a framework; it is a social process.

This paper responds to recent calls for more oversight and comparison disclosure mechanisms of US tax-exempt nonprofits, for the purpose of reducing social or environmental inequality. The framework makes an important contribution to the field of sustainability accounting, in that it promotes a principle-based approach for measuring and regulating tax-exempt nonprofits, in a way that motivates oversight and comparison of sustainability-related practices.