Taguig eyes expanded coverage of tax breaks

The Taguig City government has bared plans of expanding the coverage of the lower tax rates set to implemented on selected establishments located in the city.

Following its recent pronouncement of lowering tax rates for banks and other financial institutions, city officials announced moves to include hotels and automobile companies.

Councilor Allan Paul Cruz said this is in line with their objective of developing Taguig as a business zone and to generate more income for the city.

City officials are seeking to make Taguig the premier city in the country by 2020.

"We also considered hotels and automobile dealers in the coverage of the lower tax rates which we plan to impose on certain establishments that are located in the city as well as those that will transfer or will be built in the future. We want to attract more investors to help develop Taguig as a business hub," Cruz pointed out.

Earlier, the Taguig government said it was 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 currently charges.

"We are carefully studying our options. We have to balance the impact of lowering such taxes on the business stream alongside the additional income it would generate for the city government," Cruz said.

He added the City Council is conducting research and consultations to determine which financial institutions should be covered by the lowered tax rates. An ordinance on the lowering of taxes charged on banks and other financial institutions is now being drafted.