BAGUIO CITY – The City Treasury Office collected more than PhP2.63 billion in both internally and externally generated taxes in 2024 increasing by 11.46 percent over the PhP2.36 billion collected by the city during the previous year.
Assistant City Treasurer Fernando Ragma, Jr. said that of the PhP2.63 billion tax collection last year, PhP1.397 billion came from external sources while PhP1.233 billion was accumulated from internal sources.
Bulk of the city government’s external sources of income came from the city’s share of the national tax allocation amounting to PhP1.232 billion followed by its share from the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) amounting to PhP161.4 million and share from the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) and the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) amounting to PhP3.4 million.
On the other hand, the internally generated sources of the local government are business tax and other taxes amounting to PhP573.7 million followed by other fees and charges – PhP374.4 million, real property tax with advance payment amounting to PhP137.4 million, miscellaneous income, particularly entrance fees in parks – PhP72.7 million, proceeds from sale of assets – PhP31.5 million, and other shares from national wealth and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) – PhP32,262.08.
The assistant city treasurer expressed hope that the city government will continue to increase its tax collection with the variety of modes of paying taxes such as online or through existing other digital forms of payment that will provide convenience to the taxpayers in paying their taxes due to the city.
According to him, the city treasury office will continue to enhance its tax collection efforts to be able to provide the needed funds for the PhP3.006 billion annual budget of the city government for this year which was approved by the city council and signed into law by the local chief executive.
He rallied real property owners and entrepreneurs to pay their taxes due to the local government at the earliest possible time to ensure that their delinquencies will not incur penalties and surcharges.
Ragma pointed out that the taxes being paid by the taxpayers is the lifeblood of the government and the city treasurer office continues aggressively ensure that all the taxes due to the city should be collected to contribute in enhancing the delivery of quality basic services to the people and implement various development projects identified by the concerned offices. By Dexter A. See