Why Some Municipalities in Mexico are Better Property Tax Collectors than Others?

A property tax could be an important revenue source for municipal governments in Mexico. Unfortunately, revenues from this tax are among the lowest in Latin America. What explains the apparent success of some municipalities and the failure of others? This article analyzes factors influencing property tax collection in a sample of 2 267 municipalities over a six-year period (2008-2013), and reviews the case of the state of Baja California more closely. The analysis shows that when this state is used as a reference point, tax collection results in the vast majority of entities are below expectations. The socio-economic features of a municipality, intergovernmental transfers, but also concrete efforts to update the cadaster, and uniformity across municipal tax administration systems could explain the apparent success in the tax performance of some jurisdictions.