In 2007 the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy (Lincoln Institute), based in Cambridge, Massachusetts in the United States and the ATI embarked on a comprehensive property tax research project on the African continent. This joint venture aims to extend the existing and limited research coverage pertaining to property-related taxation in Africa by collecting and collating data, and reporting and critically reflecting on the property taxes levied in all 53 countries in Africa.

The primary objectives of this project are the following:

• To develop a comprehensive template to collect data regarding all forms of property taxation in Africa that could be updated and maintained with relative ease;
• To report and reflect in a concise, uniform and comparable manner on property-related taxes levied and collected in Africa;
• To report on property tax systems as legislated in African countries;
• To reflect on property tax systems as practised in African countries;
• To establish the importance and extent of annual property taxes as sources of national and/or municipal revenue in Africa;
• To establish the importance and extent of property transfer taxes as sources of national and/or municipal revenue in Africa;
• To comment on the future role of property taxation in Africa; and
• To discern general trends in the application of property taxation throughout Africa.

To achieve these objectives, the Lincoln Institute and the ATI have selected and commissioned research fellows from various countries on the African continent to undertake country-by-country research. The first phase of this project is directed at the collection of data on existing legislation and practices on all property-related taxes to develop a comprehensive template that will allow analysis of policy and practices regarding property taxes in these countries in a comparable manner.

Thirteen research fellows have so far (since 2007) been selected to research property taxation in a total of 48 African countries.

Research Fellows for 2007-2011

Short-term Outcomes

• Country reports
• Uniform country templates for all property-related taxes in each country
• Overview reports of the property tax trends in Anglophone, Francophone, Lusophone and eventually Arabic-speaking countries throughout Africa
• Overview report of the status of property taxation in Africa
• A “2007-2011 snapshot” record of property tax and property transfer tax legislation from each country
• A fellowship workshop on property taxation held in 2010 at the ATI in Stellenbosch, South Africa
• A Compendium of Property Taxation in Africa – covering all 53 countries in Africa

The first country reports and country templates were posted on the Lincoln Institute web site in April 2009.