The ordinance was authored by Councilor Jorge Banal and co-introduced by Majority Floor Leader Ariel Inton and Councilor Resty Malangen.
QCCCI president Nathan Zulueta lauded the council for its immediate response to the request, saying businesses would benefit from the extension. He added the extension was in line with the city government’s pro-business policy.
In his letter, Zulueta said it was not possible to accommodate all applications in the scheduled 15-day period. Under the city’s Revenue Code, all annual and quarterly business taxes and fees due and payable to the city government shall be paid on or before the 20th of January of every year. Unpaid taxes and fees shall be subject to a 25 percent surcharge and two percent monthly interest after the deadline.
Banal said city officials, led by Quezon City Mayor Feliciano Belmonte Jr., had introduced various improvements and reforms to ensure the efficient collection of taxes and the convenience of the paying public through the opening of an airconditioned taxpayers’ lounge that uses an electronically-operated customer numbering machine and the serving of free coffee.
Zulueta noted that because of the rising number of businesses in the city there is a need for an extension to ease up the bottleneck of taxpayers.
An average of 4,000 people troop daily to City Hall to pay business and realty taxes.
The Local Government Code of 1991 has fixed Jan. 20 of each year as the deadline for payment of business taxes without penalties. The City Council, however, has the power to extend the payment without penalties for a justifiable reason or cause.