Replication Data for: Can Policy Design Build Trust in Local Taxation? Experimental Evidence of Property Taxation in Mexican Municipalities

Property taxes, the primary source of local revenue for municipal governments, are crucial for improving urban service provision and resident welfare. Yet this tax is widely unpopular and often at the center of resident protests and political push-back. In this study, I ask: Can policy designs increase support for property taxes? And can property tax design serve as a path for establishing credible commitment when there is low trust in the government’s ability to provide benefits? I address these questions using an experimental conjoint survey with over 2,000 property owners in 35 urban municipalities in Mexico. I analyze their preferences across seven dimensions of property tax policy. Findings demonstrate that property owners prefer property tax policies that increase the accountability of how the government calculates, administers, spends, and enforces property taxes. For example, the implementation of a strategy that integrates citizen oversight in the use of funds increases the support for a policy by 11 percentage points. In particular, the data indicates that the respondents preferred strategies that improved transparency in government's funds management than those that made the benefits of their tax payments more direct. In an analysis of heterogeneous effects, I identify that individuals with low levels of trust in the government’s ability to provide benefits are significantly more likely to oppose property tax increases and more likely to support policies that redirect a portion of funds back to the neighborhoods in which they are collected. The findings of this study prompt important questions for urban scholars about the trade-offs that local governments may face in promoting property tax support and compliance while simultaneously preserving the redistributive character of property taxes.