Catherine Collins

Dr. Catherine Collins (Cathy) is currently the project manager for the Significant Features of the Property Tax. The purposes of this project are provision of scholarly research on the property tax, definition of the parameters of the property tax in all fifty states plus the District, and maintaining a publicly available data set regarding those parameters. Her responsibilities include managing GWIPP research assistants and their data collection, research on specific topics related to the property tax, as well as collaborating with Joan Youngman, Semida Munteanu, and Sally Powers of Lincoln Institute of Land Policy.

Cathy comes to GWIPP with an extensive background in public finance and tax policy, having worked both in the public and private sectors.  She has also held a teaching position at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York, in the School of Public Management.  

Dr. Collins holds a Ph.D. and MPA in Public Administration and Public Finance from the Maxwell School, Syracuse University. 

Prior to coming to GW, Catherine worked in the private sector in the area of municipal finance.  She headed up the risk group for municipal debt in the New York office of Bayerische Landesbank, a German regional bank.  She gained her municipal credit experience at Moody’s Investors Service, evaluating local government debt both for U.S. and non-U.S. issuers, traveling extensively throughout Canada, Australia and parts of Asia.  Her interest in local finance evolved after working for nearly a decade on tax policy for the City of New York, in various capacities in the Office of Management and Budget, Department of Finance, and the Office of Business Development.