Start Date
23-11-1988 12:30 PM
End Date
23-11-1988 2:30 PM
Description
In preparing this paper, the author will draw heavily from his own experience as the Deputy Chief Valuation Officer of Buyana in 1972-1974 and his extensive research in Singapore over the past five years, culminating in the publication of a textbook: Singapore Property Tax: Law and Valuation (Singapore: Longman, 1988). In Singapore, property tax is a major source of revenue, second to income tax, and is paid directly into the Consolidated Fund of the government without being tied to the provision of particular services. The ancestor of the Singapore property tax is the British Rates (soon to be replaced by a community or poll tax). Both systems are based on the annual value concept, though with some significant variations. The Singapore system has not been keeping pace with the development of the tax system in the United Kingdom and some other countries. For this reason there is scope for improvements in certain fundamental areas so as to provide a more equitable system to taxpayers generally and perhaps will result in some benefit to the Consolidated Fund in the form of higher revenue from this source. The intention of this paper is to summarize the Singapore property tax system and to highlight certain important issues which have been the subject of litigation and dissenting opinions with a view to providing possible solutions or a basis for reforms.
Publication Date
November 1988
Recommended Citation
Khublall, Nat, "Singapore property tax" (1988). International Research Symposium. 4.
https://researchexchange.iaao.org/irs/irs88/sessions/4
Singapore property tax
In preparing this paper, the author will draw heavily from his own experience as the Deputy Chief Valuation Officer of Buyana in 1972-1974 and his extensive research in Singapore over the past five years, culminating in the publication of a textbook: Singapore Property Tax: Law and Valuation (Singapore: Longman, 1988). In Singapore, property tax is a major source of revenue, second to income tax, and is paid directly into the Consolidated Fund of the government without being tied to the provision of particular services. The ancestor of the Singapore property tax is the British Rates (soon to be replaced by a community or poll tax). Both systems are based on the annual value concept, though with some significant variations. The Singapore system has not been keeping pace with the development of the tax system in the United Kingdom and some other countries. For this reason there is scope for improvements in certain fundamental areas so as to provide a more equitable system to taxpayers generally and perhaps will result in some benefit to the Consolidated Fund in the form of higher revenue from this source. The intention of this paper is to summarize the Singapore property tax system and to highlight certain important issues which have been the subject of litigation and dissenting opinions with a view to providing possible solutions or a basis for reforms.