City tax collections reach P2.5 billion

CEBU, Philippines - Cebu City’s tax revenue hit the P2.5 billion mark for the first two quarters of this year in the actual collection with estimates according to a report released by the City Treasurer’s Office yesterday.

CTO in charge Emma Villarete said that the revenue is enough to put the city’s finances back on track.

“Nakaabot ta sa 45 percent to 50 percent target nato. We’re in the right efficiency collection considering that we are on the June report which is halfway of the year,” Villarete said.

She, however, said that the revenue would have been higher by another billion if they had collected the joint venture tax that had approval from the mayor and the City Council.

The report showed January and March as the months with the highest collection while May and June have the lowest revenue.

The CTO is expecting the revenue to increase by 10 to 15 percent in the following quarters because of the collection dates for the Real Property Tax and the Business Tax.

 â€œHopefully we can identify more collection, most especially from our PEZA (Philippine Economic Zone Authority) accredited companies in the city,” she explained.

The P2.5 billion is higher compared to last year’s collection year on year.

One reported factor is the increase of the Gross Domestic Product of the country. The GDP is the market value of all officially recognized final goods and services produced in the country in a given period of time. It is also an indicator of a country’s standard of living.

The latest 2013 report of the National Statistical Coordinating Board showed that the Philippines’ GDP increased by 7.8.

“Tungod ana, ang uban businesses ni-increase ilang gross. Ultimately, this will affect the taxes nga ilang bayran,” Villarete explained.

Meanwhile, a new system will be introduced to improve real property tax collection in Cebu City. Villarete yesterday announced that Cebu City will eventually implement the Tax Account Number.

Under this system, real property declarants will each be given a permanent identification number where all real property units will be registered under.

By 2015, half of the total declarants will be given these cards. The TAN is expected to be fully implemented by 2016.

CTO will start conducting inventory and sorting of declarant properties and business owners and permittees. Upon implementation of the new system, declarants will be required to present their TAN for every transaction at City Hall.  (FREEMAN)