Scaling Credible Property Tax Enforcement to Unlock Urban Service Delivery in Sierra Leone

Sierra Leone has invested heavily in modernizing property taxation—mapping properties, updating valuations, and digitizing billing and payments—yet collections remain far below potential, especially among higher-value taxpayers. This leaves city councils with limited and unreliable funding for core urban services such as waste collection, drainage, sanitation, and street lighting. The Government of Sierra Leone, through the Ministry of Finance's Fiscal Decentralisation Division (FDD) and city councils, has identified the binding constraint as an "enforcement gap": modern administration exists, but without credible follow-through, revenue potential does not translate into revenue for public services.

This project supports the scaling of an evidence-informed, rules-based property tax enforcement approach that helps councils close that gap. The approach builds on a citywide randomized evaluation in Kenema that tested strategies to increase compliance among property tax defaulters. The evaluation showed that a targeted enforcement strategy—using administrative records to identify defaulters and following a clear sequence of official steps—substantially increased payment, with positive spillover effects beyond directly targeted taxpayers. Building on this evidence, the project will support continued institutionalization in Kenema City Council (KCC) and introduce the same model in Freetown City Council (FCC).

At scale, the model has three practical components designed for feasibility in local government settings: (1) transparent targeting of unpaid taxpayers using existing records, with a focus on higher-liability cases to raise meaningful revenue and signal fairness. (2) Standardized, step-by-step enforcement delivered in manageable waves so councils can reliably follow through. (3) Clear, non-partisan communication so taxpayers understand the rules, know how to comply, and see that enforcement is applied consistently.

J-PAL's Innovation in Government Initiative (IGI) support will provide technical assistance to the FDD, FCC, and KCC to embed these practices into routine annual tax administration. This includes staff training, simple monitoring systems that track follow-through and outcomes, and structured cost tracking to inform sustainable budgeting and scale decisions. By strengthening credible enforcement alongside transparency and monitoring, the project aims to expand fiscal space for service delivery and contribute to a more equitable, trusted, and sustainable local revenue system.