Some guidelines for a land taxation policy for urban develoment

Urban development is being considered as one of the major objectives of the development plan of tho government of 3ri Lanka. However, the path to urban development has not been so smooth, but full of obstacles, especially in the content of land development. Land taxation is one of the effective tools vjhich could be used in alleviating these problems. nevertheless, thus far, land taxation has been regarded only as a source of revenue to the local authorities and to the government. It ha3 not been treated as an important component of urban development policy. This study aims at providing guideliness for an appropriate 1 land taxation policy for urban development. The structure of this study is as follows:- Chapter I gives a brief introduction of the general back ground of the study. Chapter II attempts to appraise the problems of land development with a special reference to the urban area of Colombo. Chapter III deals t&th some theorllo^ical aspects of land taxation and attempts to high light the capability of land taxation in solving land development. Chapter IV examine the present approches to tax urban land briefly and attempt to hgfc high light the inadequency of the present system in promoting urban development. Chapter V is an attempt to have a closer look at the nature of the problen and to identify the potentials and constraints for the formulation of a land taxation policy. Chapter VI deals v&th the experience of land taxation in a few countries and suggest some ways in which we can develop an appropriate approach to tackle the problem. In the light of these analysis chapter VII attempts to provide come guideliness for an appropriate land taxation policy for urban development