Taxation of landed property transactions as a potential for revenue mobilization towards national development: prospects and challenges

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Date
2014-07-24
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Abstract
All governments the world over function on revenue raised from taxes. Taxes are therefore important to the existence and prosperity of a nation. Among the form of taxes are a group of taxes which are collectively termed as landed property transaction taxes. Over the years, revenues from these taxes have failed to meet their collection targets and also failed to make any significant contribution to total tax revenue in Ghana. It was on the basis of this that this study was undertaken to unravel the potentials and challenges that exist in the assessment and collection of these taxes in the country using Kumasi as the test ground. As a result, the study adopted the cross-section research design in undertaking this systematic enquiry. This was adopted to help acquire knowledge on the current situation with regards to the phenomenon under consideration. Both primary and secondary data were collected and used for the study. Respondents were drawn from the land sector agencies, Internal Revenue Service, private valuation firms and property owners for the purposes of data collection. The study revealed that the level of awareness of the landed property transaction taxes and the legal frameworks among the property owners was generally low although it was relatively high among the institutions. Again it was revealed that although there are well established institutions for the collection of landed property transaction backed by strong legal frameworks, revenue from property transaction is insignificant. This is as a result of lack of enforcement of laws, negative public attitude toward payment of taxes and poor collaboration between and among institutions. The study therefore recommended the strengthening of the institutional actors and sensitization of the taxpayers on the taxes and their responsibilities to improve compliance. Again, it is recommended that in the long term the private sector must be actively involved in the assessment and collection of the transaction taxes on commission basis.
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A thesis submitted to the School of Graduate Studies, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE DEVELOPMENT POLICY AND PLANNING.
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