A study of the process and barriers of property tax revenue generation in local government (a case study of Pasir Gudang Municipal Council)

Property tax collection issues in local governments are an important area of concern in recent years. Similarly, Pasir Gudang Municipal Council is facing serious challenges due the accrual of arrears on property tax. These issues are directly linked to the conducts and compliance behavior of the taxpayers which determine the revenue generation of the local government. Therefore, as a result of high non-compliance behavior of the taxpayers, the revenue generation capacity of Pasir Gudang Municipal Council has been declining. This study therefore, makes an effort to investigate the problems of low property tax revenue generation at Pasir Gudang Municipal Council, Malaysia. Random sampling technique was used for the data collection required for the study. Nevertheless, the study adopted a mixed method approach. 300 respondents are targeted which form the sample size to answer one of the research questions. While the qualitative method answers the other 3 research questions. However, 264 questionnaires were returned. The quantitative data analysis employed was simple distribution tables, bar chart and percentage distribution. On the other hand, thematic network analysis and narration, photographs and observations were used for qualitative analysis. The study has discovered that inadequate provisions of infrastructural facilities and services are the reason for the decline in property tax revenue collection generation in the study area. Because the findings of study discovered that the taxpayer's expectations were to have adequate infrastructural facilities and services in the study area but due to the absence of these requirements most of them evade paying the property tax. Through the findings of the study a relationship between public authorities and the taxpayers is established. The research contribution to knowledge based on the findings of this study is very significant. The study has established that provision of public amenities (public goods and services) is a determinant to taxpayers compliance. This can be used as an extension on Fischer's model of compliance behavior. However, effective public engagement in the public service delivery and enforcement could yield positive results

A framework of facilities management service user indicators through user experience to achieve service excellence in waste management services in Malaysian local governments

Service excellence is a new paradigm in Malaysian local governments that is responsible for waste management including cleaning and garbage collection as part of facilities management services. Urbanisation has created a quest for excellent services which is associated with change in consumption pattern and increase in waste generation in the country. The practice of Service quality has issues, especially in operationalisation. Service users are not satisfied with services on waste management services in the state of Johor. This necessitates empirical study aimed at proposing Framework of Facilities Management service user indicators to achieve service excellence in waste management services Malaysian in local governments. The methodology involved mixed method and data was collected from service users in five local governments which included Iskandar Puteri City Council, Pasir Gudang Municipal Council, Kulai Municipal Council, Pontian District Council and Johor Bahru City Council in Iskandar Malaysia. Twenty-five interviews were conducted and analysed using Nvivo version 8.0. One thousand seven hundred and fifty questionnaires were administered and SPSS version 23 was used for the analyses. Exploratory Factor Analysis was first conducted out of which seven components emerged; meeting user needs, service promise, dealing with complaints/problems, development & innovation, friendly and helpful service, measurement analysis, equipment & maintenance are used to run Logistic Regression and the result revealed that service users recognized meeting the needs of the service users and it is level of significance is 0.012, understand and correct problems is 0.000, performance measurement to deliver service promise is 0.002, knowledge friendly and helpful is 0.000 because they add more values to waste management services hence most significant indicators for values to be gained. While the result from Nvivo Analyses revealed that to achieve a good service user experience, the local governments needs to focus on the service users, utilise it is service experience and provide personal touch in service delivery, promise on delivery, understand service user needs, customer experience, deals with complaints, enhance it is operational process and measurement analysis. The overall result revealed that customer focus needs to be enhanced, adding personal touch, promise on delivery and dealing with problems and going extra mile on services. It is also discovered that service users preferred pleasant service delivery and handling customer complaints positively improve service user satisfaction. Future study should consider the service providers as the respondents and the study should also be replicated in other local governments. The study would benefit policy makers and local governments