Abstract
Increasing demand for urban and rural infrastructures and dwindling revenue allocations in Nigeria have informed the Lagos State Government to promulgate Land Use Charge Law (2001) as a way of increasing internally-generated revenues through property tax. The Law stipulates a formula for assessing the Charge payable on properties in Lagos State, amongst other provisions. The aim of this paper is to determine the short- and long- term effects of the law on housing delivery which is one of the thematic areas of Vision 20:2020 for Nigeria. A process of inferences was adopted to evaluate the law in addition to questionnaires administered on Estate Surveyors and Valuers within Lagos metropolis. The study found that the formula is inappropriate and that high tax and penalties may discourage investment in new housing and maintenance of existing stock. It therefore recommended a review of the Law and in addition suggested an appropriate basis of fair and equitable tax such that the goal of Vision 20:2020 can be realizable.
Conceptually, Nigeria’s economic potential is well recognized as the biggest economy in the West Africa sub-region with considerable resource endowment being a pointer to strong growth. However, very little of such potential seems to have been realized. This is associated with unsustainable planning and visioning, economic stagnation, declining welfare and social instability in the past thirty years. The main objective of Vision 20:2020 is therefore to make Nigeria one of the twenty largest economies in the world with ability to consolidate its leadership role in Africa and establish itself as a significant player in the global economic and political arena by the year 2020.
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