BAGUIO CITY – The City Assessor’s Office is urging residents to voluntarily declare their real properties with the local government to prevent the accumulation of their unpaid real property taxes that will eventually result to the auction of their properties due to their failure to settle their mandatory obligations.
City Assessor Maria Almaya Addawe said one of the major problems being encountered by their office is the failure of residents to declare their land, buildings and improvements and machineries which are subject to real property taxes because of their alleged refusal to pay their taxes due to the local government that will in turn be used to fund the implementation of priority development projects and improve the delivery of services to the people.
However, she claimed that their office partnered with the City Buildings and Architecture Office (CBAO) so that those who were issued and will be issued building permits and occupancy permits will have their properties declared for their office to be able to compute the real property taxes that they are supposed to pay to the local government.
“We continue to inform and educate the public about their obligation to declare their real properties and pay the computed real property taxes to the City Treasury Office,” Addawe stressed.
The City Assessor revealed for those interested to declare their structures and improvements, they should take a photograph of the façade of the structure together with the declarant, separate photographs of each floor of the structure and a certification from the barangay on when was the building constructed and when it was occupied to allow them to be able to compute the taxes due to the local government because they are allowed to compute the back taxes due tracing back to ten years from which the structure was erected.
According to her, the City Assessor’s Office was able to work out the computerization of the database of real property owners together with that of the City Treasury Office to allow the smooth transactions of the owners with the concerned offices in the payment of their taxes due to the city.
Addawe emphasized that residents can declare their buildings and improvements and machineries while those intending to declare their lands, they must possess the prescribed certificate of award issued by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) or titles over their properties for their office to accept the same and compute their real property taxes.
She also asserted that for those who refuse to declare their properties and the local government assessors will be able to chance upon the undeclared properties during their inspection and monitoring in the barangays, it will be their office that will assess the value of the structures based on prevailing industry standards for the subsequent computation of the real property taxes that should be paid by the owners to the local government.
Aside from the payment of penalties and surcharges if real property taxes are to paid on time by the owners, Addawe pointed out that the City Treasury Office will be constrained to auction the properties of delinquent owners that will deprive them of their buildings and improvements as well as their machineries, thus, the need for them to be responsible taxpayers.
By Dexter A. See
