Cebu City Positive on Devt With Tax Reforms

The city government of Cebu remains positive about accomplishing more development, comparable to Singapore with its long-term investment programs and goals to revamp the 20-year-old real property tax ordinance.

According to Vice Mayor Raymond Alvin Garcia, the goal of Mayor Michael Rama is to transform the development landscape which could be accomplished by the resident supporting initiatives that will address flooding. Initiatives include the removal of structures along rivers, the beautification of the Carbon Public Market, and removing illegally-built structures that contribute to traffic.

Vice Mayor Garcia says that the City Council has not yet passed the ₱50-billion annual budget that will finance the development initiatives.

He likewise says that in the Supreme Court’s Mandanas ruling, this budget can potentially add around ₱500 million to the city’s revenue. The proposed budget for 2023 has already been subjected to rounds of deliberations in a bicameral conference of members of the council and representatives in the office of Mayor Rama.

“We have agreed that the approval of the 2023 budget will definitely be done this year. We don’t want a reenacted budget,”  mentioned the Vice Mayor.

He also mentions that the proposed amendments to the city ordinance imposing taxes on real properties will increase in the realty valuation. This would increase funding that would be used to bankroll local programs for the benefit of real property owners.

“The Local Government Code states that an LGU (local government unit must revise its real property values every three years in order for the city government to base their percentage tax in assessing real property. However, our last revision was in 2003 and implemented only in 2006. Try to imagine that, our real property tax measure was 20 years ago, so it’s very outdated,”

Source: Philippine News Agency