Overview
This January 2019 study, produced under the Enhancing Local Government Capacity for Development project, assesses how local authorities in Zambia can strengthen own-source revenues (OSR). Grounded in the Intergovernmental Fiscal Architecture, it focuses on property taxes, levies, and fees and charges, with evidence from Livingstone, Kitwe, Chongwe, and Kaputa councils. The report reviews legal and policy frameworks, evaluates collection methods and effectiveness, and identifies enabling and inhibiting factors. Key findings show property tax is a major OSR source but hampered by outdated valuation rolls and procedural bottlenecks, though the 2018 Rating Act introduces improvements. Business-related levies are partially buoyant and can outperform personal levy, which the report characterizes as a nuisance tax due to low yield and regressivity. Fees and charges provide significant revenues but require market-oriented management and customer convenience. Recommendations include regularly updating valuation rolls, leveraging ICT and multiple payment platforms, improving data collection and analysis through LGAZ, conducting rapid economic profiles to identify levy opportunities, exploring PPPs and LED approaches for services, and maintaining stakeholder engagement to support decentralisation and policy coherence.