BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 21. Establishing an
equitable property tax architecture operates far beyond a simple
fiscal revenue tool, serving fundamentally as a structural
mechanism to redistribute urban value across society, said Nusret
Ibrahimov, Chairman of the Azerbaijan Chamber of Appraisers,
Trend reports.


He made the remarks during a panel discussion titled "Fair
Property Taxation as a Driver of Sustainable Urban Development,"
held within the framework of the World Urban Forum (WUF13) in
Baku.


According to him, modern international public finance trends
demonstrate that channeling a calculated portion of the added value
generated within metropolitan zones directly back into the
rehabilitation of the municipal environment forms a primary
financial pillar of sustainable urbanization.


Ibrahimov noted that the capital appreciation of land parcels
and real estate assets occurs not merely through private owner
investment, but heavily due to state-backed capital expenditures,
public transit grid expansions, utility services, protected green
infrastructure zones, and efficient spatial city planning.


"From this structural perspective, property taxes function as a
precise instrument to claw back a percentage of this publicly
created urban value into the public coffers. It is precisely this
methodology that stands out as a baseline component of resilient
municipal financing models globally," he pointed out.


The chairman of the Appraisers Chamber concurrently highlighted
that within highly developed economies, real estate taxation yields
approximately 19% of all local municipal budget revenues, playing a
vital role in underwriting daily urban public utilities and
services. By contrast, he cited data from the World Bank indicating
that developing markets have yet to fully optimize the latent
structural potential of property-based tax portfolios.


"In Azerbaijan, the current real estate taxation matrix operates
primarily on baseline parameters consisting of an asset's physical
surface area and geographical location. While this administrative
layout guarantees operational simplicity, it often fails to
accurately mirror true real-time market valuations, which naturally
introduces structural elements of socioeconomic inequality,"
Ibrahimov explained.


The chamber head emphasized that following the 44-day war,
Azerbaijan is aggressively pioneering advanced "Smart City" and
"Smart Village" master-planned ecosystems across the liberated
territories, particularly as the nation marks 2026 as the official
"Year of Urban Planning and Architecture," he concluded.


Today marks the fifth day of WUF13 in Baku.







The first day included a ministerial meeting dedicated to the
New Urban Agenda, a ministerial roundtable, assemblies for women
and civil society, business sessions, and discussions on urban
prosperity. An official ceremony marking the raising of the UN and
Azerbaijani flags also took place.


The second day stood out for the inaugural Leaders' Summit,
featuring high-level discussions on the global housing crisis,
urbanization policy, and urban resilience. Concurrently, the
opening of the Mexico City pavilion took place, serving as a
significant platform for expanding cooperation with the Latin
American region and preparing for WUF14.


The third day of WUF13 featured a comprehensive program of
events covering the global housing crisis, the formation of safe
and inclusive cities, climate resilience, artificial intelligence
and urban governance, green urbanization, social equity, and
sustainable transport.


One of the highlights of the third day was the signing of a
sister-city memorandum between the Azerbaijani city of Shusha and
the Turkish city of Trabzon.


The fourth day of WUF13 featured a broad program of events
dedicated to urbanization, climate change, inclusive urban
development, housing policy, and sustainable governance.


One of the important events of the UN Special Programme for the
Economies of Central Asia (SPECA) Cities Forum, held on the fourth
day, was the announcement of Almaty’s official accession to the
“Declaration of Intent on the Establishment of the SPECA Smart
Climate-Resilient Cities Forum.”


Also, for the first time in WUF history and at Azerbaijan’s
initiative, the “WUF13 NGO Forum: Global Partnership and
Decision-Making” was held.


WUF13, which has attracted more than 40,000 registered
participants from 182 countries, will continue until May 22. Held
under the theme “Housing the world: Safe and resilient cities and
communities,” the forum brings together governments, international
organizations, experts, and representatives of civil society to
strengthen global cooperation in the field of sustainable urban
development.