Taguig not competing with other cities in tax rates

An official of the Taguig City government said they are not competing with any city or municipality as far as their tax rates are concerned.

Councilor Allan Paul Cruz said the plan to bring down tax rates simply aims to attract more investors to the city and develop it as a business zone.

"We just want to promote the city and encourage investors to come in so it will generate more income and more employment opportunities for the residents. We didn’t formulate such a plan in order to wage war with other cities," Cruz explained.

In information technology infrastructure, he admitted that Taguig may not be at par with Makati City but he said they are not far behind.

Cruz pointed to The Fort (Global City) as one possible location where financial institutions and other companies can relocate in case they choose to do business in the city.

Earlier, Cruz said they are contemplating on bringing down the local tax applied on banks and other financial institutions to as low as 0.08 percent based on gross annual receipts from the 0.50 percent tax the city government presently charges.

Makati City, on the other hand, plans to revise its revenue code and raise its taxes on banks to 0.30 percent from the current 0.15 percent.