CTO collected P1.6B in first quarter

CEBU, Philippines - The Cebu City Treasurer’s Office collected over P1.6 billion of revenues for the first quarter of this year, which is P352 million higher compared to the city’s revenue collections in the same period last year.

City Treasurer Emma Villarete said the collection of more than P1.58 million was from business and real property taxes, license and other regulatory fees and sales proceeds of government lots during the first three months of this year.

Records show that during the same period last year, the city only collected more than P1.2 million from these taxes.

Aside from business and real property taxes, the city also collected P59 million from various economic enterprises of the city like markets, City Traffic Operations Management (CITOM), Cebu City Medical Center (CCMC), city abattoir, Division for the Welfare and Urban Poor (DWUP) and  Cebu City Resource Management and Development Center (Cremdec).

Villarete is hoping that they can collect at least P5.2 billion this year to fund the city’s annual budget.

City Assessor Eustaquio Cesa already formed two teams composed of 24 personnel to conduct tax mapping on all real property owners in Cebu City to find out if they are paying the correct amount of taxes.

According to City Administrator Jose Marie Poblete, the revenue collections of the city will surely increase as a result of the tax mapping because there are owners of real properties like lands and buildings who are still paying their taxes based on residential rates even if their properties are already used for commercial purposes.

Poblete explained that taxes for commercial establishments and lots are much higher compared to residential. —/MBG (FREEMAN)