Evaluation of the project “Building Market Value Based Property Tax in Albania (ProTax)

The subject of this evaluation is the implementation of the Property Tax Project in Albania (2018-2022). The evaluation includes the involvement and performance of the Swedish Tax Agency as key agency supporting the project owner, Ministry of Finance and Economy (MFE), and the cooperation with the General Directorate of Property Tax (GDPT). The evaluation finds that the project contributes to an important need to reform property tax in Albania. However, the project was not designed based on a proper interest- and needs analysis. Since its start, the project has suffered multiple setbacks and delays resulting in redesign of the project. The project is not likely to deliver its key outcomes as anticipated during the project lifetime.
It is recommended that the Swedish Embassy and the STA engage in a closer dialogue with MFE and GDPT, to see how the change in scope can include policy and strategy level interventions. The project partners should address the challenges in getting access to data from the Albanian National State Cadastre Agency to populate the ProTax IT systems. There should also be a closer involvement of the municipalities in the implementation of a next project phase.