Managing the Distribution of Property Tax Bills

Abstract

Distributing tax bills is an administrative function that is foundational to effective property taxation. However, bill distribution is often overlooked in reform programs in lower-income countries that tend to focus on issues of property identification, valuation, facilitating payments, and compliance. This guidance note reviews the challenges to effective property tax bill distribution in lower-income countries, before describing a tried and tested approach that relies on GPS coordinates to identify properties and sequence bill printing and delivery. The guidance note discusses the trade-offs of several policy decisions related to bill distribution, including outsourcing printing and delivery and using mobile applications to track and verify delivery. The guidance note concludes with a discussion of some potential alternative strategies for effective bill distribution.