An aerial view of Cebu City. CDN Digital photo | Brian J. Ochoa
CEBU CITY, Philippines — The Cebu City government wants a new model for revising the real property tax rates here.
Mayor Michael Rama on Sunday, Feb. 12 announced that he vetoed City Ordinance No. 138-2022. Passed by the Council last January, it allowed the city government to update its current real property tax rates.
However, during Sunday’s press conference, Rama, through his Secretary, Lawyer Collin Russell, said they would submit a new proposal on how to revise them.
“We need to appreciate that government is dependent on revenues from taxes for much-needed health and economic recovery after a series of challenges,” said Russell, reading Rama’s prepared press statement.
Rama’s administration first revealed their plans of revising the city’s real property tax rates in 2022 as one of the major sources of funding its P50-billion budget for this year.
The last time the city updated its real property tax rates was in 2004.
Rama on Sunday stressed that it was high time for the city to change them to ensure uninterrupted delivery of basic services and programs.
“The poor cannot wait. Current and fair market values of properties in Cebu City must prevail. Valuation should be dependent on prevailing market and economic forces,” he said.
The revised real property tax rates contained in City Ordinance No. 138-2022 were supposed to be implemented in two phases, with the first phase beginning this 2024.
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