Government will decentralise the collection of property tax to enhance resource mobilisation in the country, the Minister of Local Government, Chieftaincy and Re­ligious Affairs, Mr Ahmed Ibrahim has disclosed.According to him, decentralising the system would allow Metropoli­tan, Municipal and District Assem­bly (MMDAs) to maximise and take charge of collecting property taxes in their area for development.The minister disclosed this at the opening of a three-day workshop on urban property tax for MMDAs in the country.Organised by the African Cities Research Consortium (ACRC), the workshop aimed at advancing prop­erty tax reforms as well as strate­gising to boost domestic revenue mobilisation in the country.It was also geared to reduce reliance on central transfers and promote sustainable, inclusive urban development.It was on the theme; "Trans­forming Urban Property Tax Administration for Improved Delivery of Valued Public Goods and Services" and brought together stakeholders from the Ministry, MMDAs, Commonwealth and Development Officer and Local Governance Network.Mr Ibrahim said while the system was aimed at enhancing national oversight and streamlining col­lections, it affected the revenue mobilisation drive of the local authorities.He explained that this was due to the fact that the arrangement was fraught with a myriad of challenges which denied MMDAs revenues from property rates."Historically, MMDAs were solely responsible for property tax collection as stipulated in section 144 of the Local Governance Act, 2016 (Act 936), however, a unified common platform was introduced by the erstwhile government under the watch of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) to administer and manage the collection of property rates in the MMDAs," he said.The minister noted that, decen­tralised system of property tax col­lections generate more revenue as compared to the centralised system.Citing Korle Klottey Municipal Assembly as an example, he said the assembly generated an amount of GH¢2 million in the centralised system, however in 2023, when the system was suspended and the as­sembly took charge, an amount of GH¢ 12 million was generated.The Head of Project Delivery of ACRC, Mrs Irene Vance stated that the workshop would also share best practices and case studies from successful reforms across the continent.Additionally, she said it would ex­plore digitalisation experience and identify strategies for implementing sustainable digital reforms in the country. BY CECILIA YADA LAGBA