Evaluation of the Project “Building Market Value Based Property Tax (PROTAX)” in Albania

Sweden has been supporting the Public Finance Management Reform in Albania within Reform Cooperation Strategy for Eastern Europe, Western Balkans and Turkey 2014 – 2020, strengthened democracy, human rights and rule of law result area. The Albanian Government through Ministry of Finance and Economy (MFE) has entered into an agreement in March 2018 with Swedish Government though Sida, to support the development of a market value based property tax (Protax) in Albania for 2018 – 2020. The intervention would be implemented as a cooperation project between Swedish Tax Agency (STA) and Ministry of Finance and Economy. The purpose of the Protax Albania project is to contribute to strengthened municipalities in Albania by substantially increase their own source revenues by implementing market value based immovable property tax on buildings, i.e. object units.

Sida has been appointed Tana Copenhagen to undertake the evaluation of Protax implementation for the period 2018 – 2021 in Albania, including the arrangements for the cooperation with the GDPT and MFE. The evaluation has a dual purpose. It will assess the results in order to account for the resources invested by Sweden in this cooperation and provide input to upcoming discussions concerning the preparation of a new phase of intervention. The evaluation is also intended to contribute to the learning on this cooperation experience. In addition to providing lessons learned on the cooperation, the purpose of the evaluation is to assess the results achieved in relation to the property tax revenue, the quality of the tax system, and the impact on the economy.