Tax law to be approved without public hearing

ILOILO CITY, Philippines — Despite opposition of the business sector, the Iloilo City Council decided to have the proposed tax ordinance approved before the October 26 deadline, without holding a public hearing anymore, otherwise it could no longer be implemented by January next year.

During the second reading of the proposed ordinance yesterday, Councilor David Jamora raised the concerns of some businessmen about the dire effects on them once the city starts imposing 100 percent real property tax on them.

Jamora deemed it necessary to have a public hearing for the Council to have a picture of the business in the city and hear the stand of the business community on the matter.

Councilor Perla Zulueta, sponsor of the measure, admitted they have initially scheduled a public hearing but after consulting with the Bureau of Local Government Finance (BLGF), she realized this is no longer needed because there is no revision on the schedule of value of real properties at all.

By next week, the Council must have approve the ordinance lest the city could no longer implement the 100 percent tax schedule on real properties within its jurisdiction by 2012. "We have to bite the bullet by the 26th. If it is not approved, tapos gid (we're finished)," Zulueta said.

Zulueta was worried that if there is no increase in the tax collection, where the city gets most of its budget, it would be affected because of the expected decrease in its internal revenue allotment share (IRA) due to the creation of the 16 new cities.

The councilor however did not move for the approval of the ordinance yesterday because she was still waiting for the written response of Soliman so they will have a proof to show when businessmen question why no public hearing was conducted.

"Next week, once we get the BLGF's written advice, we can go on and approved the ordinance. What I'm worried is that if we do not pass this next week, we could not publish it and we could not collect in January. Any revision in tax collection always takes effect in the first month of the year," Zulueta said, adding that the Council considers the plight of the city and its residents.

Earlier, Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog wrote the Council asking for the full implementation of the Schedule of the 2006 (real property) values "to raise revenues in order to ease fiscal difficulties."

Zulueta, chairperson of the ways and means committee, said the measure is not actually an increase but only the full implementation of the tax schedule that city is supposed to implement on real property owners.

The last revision of the Schedule of Base Unit Market Values of Lands and Schedule of Base Unit Construction Cost of Buildings and Other Improvements was implemented in 2006. The Council decided to implement the increase gradually to mitigate the impact on real property tax owners.

In 2006 and 2007, Zulueta said the city just implemented 50 percent of the increase and 60 percent in 2008 until the present.

As of third quarter of 2011, there are 146,326 real property units in Iloilo City. Of the number, 106,573 are considered taxable and 39,753 are exempted.

This year, with the 60 percent implementation of the schedule of values of real property tax, the city has a collectible of P243,726,023.29. When the city starts the 100 percent implementation, the amount is expected to go up to P303,265,017.05. - THE FREEMAN