Property Tax Dynamics Reengineering in Nigeria: The Alternative Infrastructure Financing Option for National Development

Abstract

The availability of resources to either provide new infrastructural facilities, services or to maintain the few obsolete ones has recently become an issue of national concern. States across the country have witnessed and are still witnessing a critical infrastructure deficit. Scholars globally have suggested property tax as a formidable alternative infrastructure financing option. The study examines the need for property tax dynamics reengineering in Nigeria to provide valuable information as an infrastructure financing option for national development through a theoretical research approach. The study established the link between real property investment and property tax dynamics, the nexus between property tax and infrastructure development and Nigeria's need for property tax reengineering. The study found the deteriorating state of critical infrastructure due to overuse and lack of adequate maintenance. Hence, it concluded that the reawakening of the property tax system in the country could help facilitate the transformational agenda of the Local Government Administration in the country. It recommended replicating the robust Lagos state property taxation strategy across the other states in Nigeria.