"This book provides the first comprehensive look at the challenges of adapting property taxation, a major source of local tax revenue, to the many changes brought about by the end of Apartheid in South Africa ... Students of property taxation will find this book an interesting case study of tradition and change in an important country making the transition to democracy. Policy makers and concerned citizens in South Africa will find a policy framework for understanding complex property taxation and local finance issues. Policy makers in other countries undergoing similar transition, or strengthening the role of local self-government, will find important comparative lessons to be learned.”

Michael E. Bell is president of MEB Associates, Inc., and a research professor at George Washington University Institute of Public Policy. His work focuses on state and local finances and intergovernmental relations.
John H. Bowman is emeritus professor of economics at Virginia Commonwealth University. He is a widely published expert on property taxes.