Makeni City Project - The Local Government Revenue Initiative

Status: On-going
City: Makeni
Timeline: August 2024-Date

Drawing insights from our involvement in tax reforms in Freetown and Kenema City, Sierra Leone, LoGRI has extended its reform support to Makeni City. Makeni is the largest city in the Northern Province of Sierra Leone with approximately 85,116 inhabitants. The project was initiated in the summer of 2024 and will support the identification and valuation of properties in Makeni and broader reforms to the property tax system.

Country: Sierra Leone
Approaches: Reform & Advisory Support
Project Team: Rosetta Wilson

Emile Eleveld

Amadu Jan Jalloh

Manso Bagura

Sheku Kunateh

Axel Schneider

Evan Trowbridge

Paul Fish

Nicolas Orgeira Pillai

Graeme Stewart-Wilson

Alieu Gilbert Fullah

Mohamed Samba Barrie

Lorena Edah

Working Paper

Status: Upcoming

Mapping Tax Compliance: Unpacking the Social, Economic, Political and Network Drivers of Tax Compliance in Freetown, Sierra Leone

Working Paper

Status: Upcoming

Does the Expansion of Tax Demands Lead to Greater Political Engagement and Demands for Accountability? Evidence from a Property Tax Reform in Sierra Leone

Working Paper

Status: Upcoming

Tax Messaging and Compliance Behaviour: Does Varying Messaging on Tax Bills Influence Compliance?

Partner Publication

Status: Completed

Transformational change case: Strengthening local revenue through property tax reform in Sierra Leone

Partner Publication

Status: Completed

Local leadership for digitalising public administration: lessons from property tax reform in Freetown, Sierra Leone

Working Paper

Status: Completed

Building Comprehensive Property Tax Systems in Lower-Income Countries: ‘Cadaster-First’ vs ‘Property Tax First’ Approaches

Working Paper

Status: Completed

Participation, Legitimacy and Fiscal Capacity in Weak States: Evidence from Participatory Budgeting

Journal Article

Status: Completed

Tax reform coalitions for urban development: the politics of property tax reform in Sierra Leone

Journal Article

Status: Completed

Sub-national property tax reform and tax bargaining: Lessons from a quasi-randomized reform program in Sierra Leone

Working Paper

Status: Completed

Building Fiscal Capacity with Traditional Political Institutions: Experimental and Qualitative Evidence from Sierra Leone

Working Paper

Status: Completed

Can Rural Property Tax Generate Revenue? A Simple Accounting Exercise in Sierra Leone

Policy Brief

Status: Completed

Simplifying Property Tax Administration in Africa: Piloting a Points-Based Valuation in Freetown, Sierra Leone

Journal Article

Status: Completed

The Political Economy of Property Tax in Africa: Explaining Reform Outcomes in Sierra Leone

Working Paper

Status: Completed

Rebuilding Local Government Finance After Conflict: The Political Economy of Property Tax Reform in Sierra Leone

Blogs

Who Pays for the City? Property Tax and Urban Sprawl in Makeni, Sierra Leone

Press

How can African cities pay for stuff?

Press

Turning point for welfare financing in Africa

Press

Freetown’s property tax is designed to plug funding gap: how Sierra Leone’s capital went about it

Blogs

Can participatory budgeting build government legitimacy and increase tax revenues in weak states?

Blogs

Does Information About Public Services Boost Tax Compliance? I conducted an experiment in Freetown to find out

News

Job Opening: Reform Assistant

News

Job Opening: Technical Coordinator

News

Researchers and policymakers to discuss tax collection for Sierra Leone’s development

Press

A mayor is reforming Sierra Leone’s rotten property tax

Blogs

Can property tax valuation in Africa be simplified? Lessons from a pilot project in Freetown, Sierra Leone

Status: On-going

Kenema City Project

Status: On-going

Freetown City Property Tax Reform

Photo credit to Flickr/Direct Relief