Cities should share taxes with province like the municipalities

CEBU, Philippines - Cebu third district Rep. Gwendolyn Garcia wants component cities, like the municipalities, to share real property tax revenues with their province.

She has authored House Bill (HB) 1299 that requires provinces to get a share in the proceeds of real property taxes imposed by component cities, amending Section 271 of  Republic Act No. 7160, otherwise known as the Local Government Code (LGC) of 1991.

"Taxation without representation, it is said, is tyranny. But no less inequitable is representation without taxation," she said.

Garcia said that under the Code, component cities retains the right to vote for elective provincial positions, but are not required to share in the burden of government by way of  taxation.

Under the existing law, component cities are not required to share its revenue of real property taxes with the province.

Yet, under Section 16 of the same Code, a province is mandated to protect and uphold the general welfare of all its inhabitants, including those residing in component cities.

"This is onerous for a number of reasons. First, a local government unit's being, or conversion into, a component city does not relieve the province of its obligation to maintain provincial infrastructure such as roads and bridges within that component city, and its mandatory assistance to its barangays," Garcia said.

She added that while the province serves both towns and component cities, only the municipalities, which are less financially capable, give a share of its real property taxes revenue to the province.

 "Clearly, Section 271 of the Local Government Code should be amended to correct this onerous situation, by making component cities share, as they must, the proceeds of real property taxes with the province," Garcia added.

Under Garcia's proposal, 30 percent of real property taxes that a component city collects shall accrue to the province, 40 percent to the general fund of the component city, and 30 percent shall be distributed among the barangays of the component city where the property is located.

The 30 percent for the barangays shall be distributed in such a manner that 50 percent shall go to the barangay where the property is located and other 50 percent shall be divided equally to the other barangays.

Now pending before the House Committee on Local Government, HB 1299 is co-authored by Reps. Anthony del Rosario (Davao del Norte), Rogelio Espina (Biliran), Fernando Gonzalez (Albay), Tupay Loong (Sulu), Josephine Sato (Occidental Mindoro), Maximo Dalog (Mountain Province), Damian Mercado (Southern Leyte) and Ben Evardone (Eastern Samar).— /RHM (FREEMAN)