Financing metropolitan public policies and services · Issue paper #6 · Metropolis Observatory
Date of publication
Topic
Metropolitan Governance
Public finance
Type of resources
Issue Papers
With the growth of citizens in metropolitan areas, the budget grows too. More public expenditure is needed to cover services and infrastructure that an increasing population needs. But from where this money comes and how governments coordinate are some of the questions surrounding the financial health of metropolises.
Are the users of the service or infrastructure who have to pay for it? A higher wealth tax that could be redistributed, maybe? Or even a great increment from the national or regional budget directly financiating the metropolis? Cities have to list the services they offer and decide how to pay for it according to a reasonable governance plan.
Taxation according to the land value is one of the most attractive revenues that governors can get from a city's development. Better roads, hospitals, schools, water treatment systems… All these assets will be traduced into a higher land value, which could be taxed in various ways, a payment that it could hardly be evaded.
An organised governance framework to work with in which every competence is well administered is one of the keys that Enid Slack describes in the Issue Papers 6, among many other pieces of advice to help governors and citizens alike to understand the financing of metropolises.
Are the users of the service or infrastructure who have to pay for it? A higher wealth tax that could be redistributed, maybe? Or even a great increment from the national or regional budget directly financiating the metropolis? Cities have to list the services they offer and decide how to pay for it according to a reasonable governance plan.
Taxation according to the land value is one of the most attractive revenues that governors can get from a city's development. Better roads, hospitals, schools, water treatment systems… All these assets will be traduced into a higher land value, which could be taxed in various ways, a payment that it could hardly be evaded.
An organised governance framework to work with in which every competence is well administered is one of the keys that Enid Slack describes in the Issue Papers 6, among many other pieces of advice to help governors and citizens alike to understand the financing of metropolises.
