Publication: Land-Value Capture in Bogotá: Case Studies on the Valorization Levy
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2025-05-28
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2025-05-28
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This note presents a comprehensive analysis of Bogotá’s experience with the betterment levy—contribución de valorización (CV)—as a land value capture (LVC) instrument to finance urban transport infrastructure. Focusing on five major programs implemented in 1995, 2005, 2010, 2013, and 2018, the note draws critical lessons for cities in the developing world seeking sustainable, equitable, and locally anchored financing mechanisms. Unlike much of the existing literature that isolates the betterment levy from broader fiscal dynamics, this note situates the levy within Bogotá’s evolving tax ecosystem, including property and sales taxes, and highlights the pivotal role of a modernized cadaster. It shows that while the betterment levy has never fully financed transport projects on its own, it has consistently contributed to closing funding gaps, especially when paired with improved tax collection and strategic debt use. The note concludes with ten actionable lessons for other cities, emphasizing the importance of enabling legislation, affordability assessments, city-wide standards, and citizen participation. It also underscores the need to consider the total tax burden on residents and the political economy of earmarked revenues. Sound financing sources generate significantly more revenue than the cost of collecting it. Bogotá’s experience demonstrates that even partial revenue from betterment levies can be transformative when embedded in a robust fiscal and institutional framework.
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“Ardila-Gomez, Arturo. 2025. Land-Value Capture in Bogotá: Case Studies on the Valorization Levy. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/43247 License: CC BY-NC 3.0 IGO.”
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