This discussion paper examines the enormous potential to increase local revenues through land and property taxation in cities. The paper reviews experiences over the past five years in five of Afghanistan's largest cities: Kandahar, Herat, Jalalabad, Lashkar Gah and Mazar-e-Sharif. It demonstrates that property registration and safayi taxation is a cost-effective approach that fosters a culture of civic responsibility, improves tenure security through land regularisation, and increases local revenues to address infrastructure and service deficiencies in cities