By CHITO A. CHAVEZ
October 24, 2011, 5:53pm [ Manila Bulletin Online ]
MANILA, Philippines — Quezon City Mayor Herbert Bautista will sign Tuesday the controversial Socialized Housing Tax (SHT) ordinance in simple rites at the Bulwagang Amoranto at the Quezon City Hall compound.
Members of the Local Housing Board, local officials and members of the city council are expected to grace the signing wherein a brief presentation and explanation of the ordinance will be presented at the session hall.
Earlier, the additional tax to be imposed on certain property owners drew flak, with some taxpayers calling it another tax burden on residents of the country’s leading tax city.
To clarify matters related to the SHT, Bautista said a sample computation on how the new tax measure is derived will be shown during the presentation.
Last Monday, the 26-member city council approved on the third and final reading the socialized housing tax ordinance authored by fourth district Councilor Edcel Lagman.
The new tax measure imposes a special assessment of 0.05 percent on all real property with assessed value of P100,000 and above.
With more than 230,000 informal settlers in the city, the city government expects to earn P185 million in additional revenue in the next five years to finance pro-poor housing projects in the city.
After a five-year period, the city government expects the socialized housing program to finance itself out of the takeout mechanisms of the Pag-IBIG Fund and from the amortization payments of the beneficiaries.
Former Councilor Moises Samson scored the tax measure, branding it unconstitutional and invalid citing that there is no clear evidence that it complies with the requirements of constitutional due process of law.
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