prohibited from selling or mortgaging land (Deininger et al. 2008). There is no rural land sale market, and the land rental market is restricted except for Amhara (Deininger et al. 2008; Deininger et al. 2011).<sup>6</sup> The 2000 Revised Family Code gives women and men equal rights to property in inheritance and during marriage, and equal division of assets in divorce (Kumar and Quisumbing 2015).<sup>7</sup> Despite these laws, different norms across locations and across ethnic and religious groups affect how land is allocated (Kumar and Quisumbing 2015). The primary way to gain access to land is by inheritance from parents, with older sons given preferential treatment (Bezu and Holden 2014b; Kosec et al. 2018). Women access land by marrying men with land (Bezu and Holden 2014b) or living with an adult son who inherited the land rights.

In the last 10 years, population increase has resulted in landlessness and farms becoming subdivided and smaller (Bezu and Holden 2014b; Holden and Tilahun 2020). Even when landholders have obtained perpetual use rights, their continuance is generally contingent on physical presence in the village, although there are variations by region<sup>8</sup> (Bezu and Holden 2014b). While the land certification program increased tenure security (Bezabih et al. 2016), there is evidence that landholders continue to feel insecure about their tenure because of the threat of expropriation for land redistribution (Ali et al. 2011; Deininger et al. 2011; Bezu and Holden 2014). The banning of land sales, limited access to land, the requirement for local residence to retain land rights, and tenure insecurity make it clear that in Ethiopia (1) there are no land markets; (2) there is a limited supply of rural land; and (3) landholders are not mobile. These conditions have important implications for guiding the assumptions used in the tax incidence analysis in section 3.

The gender productivity gap (Aguilar et. al. 2015; Bezabih et al. 2016; Ghebru and Holden 2015) and gender inequities in agriculture and consumption (Teklu 2005) have implications for the burden of area-based land taxes. In Ethiopia, it is considered inappropriate for women to engage in agricultural work, particularly ploughing with oxen (Ghebru and Holden 2015; Holden et al. 2011; Teklu 2005). When male-labor is not accessible, households without male adults rent out their land through sharecropping arrangements, often with male relatives (Bezabih et al. 2016; Ghebru and Holden 2015; Teklu 2005). However, women prefer to hire male laborers because sharecropping agreements can cost half of the crop (Teklu 2005). Sharecropper productivity is also lower on female-owned than on male-owned land (Ghebru and Holden 2015). Women farmers, the majority of whom are either divorced or widowed, have less access to land, agricultural inputs, and agricultural extension services, and their productivity is lower (Aguilar et al. 2015). Consequently, area-based land tax could constitute an implicit gender bias because women are likely to face a heavier tax burden than men when there is a gender productivity and consumption gap.

# **3. Data and Methodology**

# **3.1 The Ethiopia Socioeconomic Survey (ESS4)**

We draw data from the ESS4 2018/19, which collected general information about, for example, sociodemographic characteristics, asset ownership, and agricultural activities, and also asked about whether and how much households paid in land use fee and agricultural income tax (World Bank 2020a). It also elicited information about the employment of individuals, nonfarm enterprises, and ownership and rights to land and other assets. Individuals aged 18 and over in the same household were each interviewed in private to assess intra-household asset ownership. The response rates of eligible respondents on rural dwelling and non-dwelling

> 6 For example, land could be leased for a fee but for no more than two years in Tigray (Tigray National Region State’s Rural Land Usage Proclamation, No.23/1997) and for no more than five years, with two-year renewable contracts, in SNNP (The SNNP Rural Land Administration and Use Proclamation, No. 110/2007).

> 7 The Family Law stipulates that all property is considered common property even if it is only registered in the name of one spouse (Holden and Tiluhan 2020).

> 8 For example, landholders who leave the village for two years have their land rights forfeited in Tigray (Tigray National Regional State’s Rural Land Usage Proclamation, No.23/1997); the duration of absence is three years in Afar (Afar National Regional State Rural Land Use and Administration Regulation, No. 4/2011).

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