Urban land zoning for taxation purposes in Ukraine: Possible methods under an immature land market

This paper is devoted to urban land zoning for taxation purposes in advance of the establishment of a land market. It typifies most urban areas in Ukraine, a country in transition to a market economy. The assessed values in Ukraine do not reflect market values, as the land market is immature. The disadvantages of the current assessment system are described. The reasons why the usual Western valuation methods cannot be applied are also discussed. A proposal is presented here for a new approach to the analysis of land values and real estate markets. For this purpose, three groups of methods are described and evaluated. In the proposed structure of assessment zoning, several possible approaches to zones formation are foreseen. While the paper proposes methods that could be used, these are not backed up with empirical data. The implementation of the proposed approach is the subject for future research.