Council archives proposed new tax rates

CEBU, Philippines — The implementation of the new tax rates in Cebu City remains uncertain as the unified guidelines under the new Real Property Valuation and Assessment Reform Act (RPVARA) are yet to be released.

Councilor Noel Wenceslao, chairman of the Committee on Budget and Finance of the Cebu City Council who is also the proponent of the revised RPT, said that the proposal has been archived. He, however, clarified that this could be revived anytime.

Wenceslao said that the new law, RPVARA, stipulates that the Local Government Unit (LGU) is no longer responsible for updating the valuation on which the new tax rates are based but the Bureau of Local Government Finance (BLGF).

The city’s proposed revised tax rates were still based on the values pegged by the city assessor. The city’s proposed revised real property tax rates resulted in has It was reported that the new tax rates on the revised RPT has earned strong opposition from the property owners because of the increase that reached as high as 1,000 percent.

"Kay ang ila man gung gusto sa national law, there should be a uniformity of the valuation, kung ang BIR naay valuation nga mao ni, mao sab ang valuation for every Local Government Unit, so mao na nga di nata ma follow tung valuation (set by Cebu City)," he said.

Wenceslao, however, said that should the valuation by the national is way higher for the taxpayers, the LGU can lobby a lower amount by also decreasing the assessment level which could impact the overall tax rate but only in a maximum of 3 percent.

Wenceslao said that even though the RPVARA has superseded the proposed revised RPT, it only made the job of the local legislative body simpler. He added that this hasn't been implemented yet since they are still waiting for the implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR).

He also said that should the IRR be in place, an amnesty will be granted for those taxpayers with penalties and surcharges in the first two years of its implementation, meaning these payments will be waived.

Wenceslao clarified that although the RPVARA has already been signed into law, it cannot be implemented in the absence of IRR. (CEBU NEWS)