Friday, September 25, 2009 | MANILA, PHILIPPINES [ BusinessWorld Online ]
ILOILO CITY — The World Bank (WB) and Land Bank of the Philippines are encouraging other local government units (LGU) to follow Iloilo City’s computerized taxation system.
The two financial institutions recently brought officials of Sta. Rosa City, Laguna here to learn the best practices and benefits of Iloilo City’s real property tax administration (RPTA) and Business Tax Enhancement (BTE) projects.
They also held a workshop on revenue improvement and enhancement programs for LGUs focusing on real property and business tax mapping operations.
"We understand that the real property tax administration experience of Iloilo City as part of the Resource Mobilization Component of the Local Government and Finance Development (LOGOFIND) Project has produced very good results which have significantly improved the financial position of Iloilo City," said Christopher Pablo, senior operations officer of WB-Manila.
Mr. Pablo said they used Iloilo City’s RPTA and BTE projects as models to other LGUs because of the city’s success in increasing its revenue collections this year.
Iloilo City mayor Jerry P. Trenas said the City Treasurer’s Office collected P828.98 million from January to August this year, or 86% of this year’s P958.49-million budget estimate.
Business and other taxes amounted to P249 million, or 93% of the P269-million target for the whole year. Real property tax collections amounted to P134 million, or 83% of the P163-million target this year.
Non-tax revenue or various fees collected reached P77 million, which is 98% of the P78.5-million target.
The city-run public markets and slaughterhouse collected P32.5 million, or 94% of the P34.6-million projected collection.
The WB assisted the Iloilo City government in the computerization of the City Treasurer’s and Assessor’s offices. Both offices have initiated tax mapping activities under the WB guidance.
The computerization also streamlined business registration processes in the city. — Francis Allan L. Angelo
_____________________________________________________________________________________
