A group of members of the Khan Uul district council from
Ulaanbaatar recently visited the Hamden Government Center in Connecticut, USA,
and expressed admiration for the importance placed on citizen participation and
transparency in government. From a meeting with Mayor Scott D. Jackson on the
importance of prioritizing the needs of residents and letting them know they’ve
been heard, to the procedures used to assess property and levy and collect
taxes, the group from Mongolia was impressed with what they saw and learnt,
according to a report in the New Haven Register’

Ts. Oyungerel, interpreter for the group, said, “The
whole transparency of the process of registering, assessing and taxing
properties, they are impressed about that. It’s a completely new thing.” In
Mongolia, all taxes are collected by the central government. The district
council representatives, who are members of the Democratic Party, are
interested in starting a system whereby real estate taxes are collected locally
so revenue can support local projects.

“We are a very young democracy. Cities collect personal
income and business income taxes, but real estate taxes are not collected by
the local government, or anybody. No one knows who owns what building. This is
why we are so excited,” Oyungerel said. The local legislators want to influence
others in government so there can be local independence and the right to
collect real estate taxes, she said.