BAGUIO CITY – The City Treasury Office disclosed the city government might not be able to collect more or less P400 million in projected taxes this year because of the heavy impact of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) global pandemic to the national and city economy.
City Treasurer Alex Cabarrubias said that the biggest setback in the city’s tax collection efforts is the significant reduction in the city’s share from the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) as only P80 million was remitted to the city’s coffers from January to June this year compared to the projected P220 million PEZA share for the whole year.
He pointed out the city can only collect as much as P100 million share from PEZA this year following the slowdown in the operations of multinational companies in the economic zone primarily because of the global pandemic.
Further, he added the city also projected a 40 percent shortfall in the projected business taxes this year following the closure of most of the businesses during the implementation of the community quarantine.
However, the city treasurer claimed the shortfall in the city’s tax collection and share from PEZA could be recovered with the implementation of the approved revised schedule of market values for real property taxes to be implemented in January next year.
According to him, there is also a projected increase in the city’s Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) from the national government by as much as P75 million from the current IRA received by the city this year.
Cabarrubias expressed optimism the city’s economy will rebound during the third and fourth quarters of the year to at least allow businesses to slightly recover from the huge losses they incur during the community quarantine implementation so that they will also be able to contribute in the revenue generation efforts of the city through the taxes they are mandated to pay.
He cited that the city also stands to lose some P50 million in projected penalties and surcharges supposed to be imposed on taxpayers that are not able to pay their taxes on time because of the enactment of Ordinance No. 52, series of 2020, that waived the aforesaid charges being collected by the city from taxpayers until the end of the year as part of the efforts to reduce the impact of the community quarantine to the economic condition of the people.
Cabarrubias emphasized the city is doing its best in trying to strike a balance in the implementation of its taxation powers and responding to the clamor of the public for assistance to allow them to cope with the heavy impact of the community quarantine to the employment and sources of livelihood of the people because almost all of the sectors suffered enormously from the wrath of the global pandemic that saw most businesses undergo forced closure at the height of the enhanced community quarantine.
He revealed the city’ residents are law-abiding and he does not see the difficulty of having to collect the computed taxes due for payment every quarter depending on the scheme chosen by the taxpayers as the restrictions on the movement of people had been realized because of the downgrading of the city’s status to modified general community quarantine (MGCQ).
By Dexter A. See
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