Real property tax rates in Cebu City has new model, pushed at City Council
Local Finance Committee has introduced to City Council a new version of the RPT, business rates
An aerial view of Cebu City. CDN Digital (FILE PHOTO) | Brian J. Ochoa
CEBU CITY, Philippines – The Cebu City government’s Local Finance Committee (LFC) has introduced to the council, on Thursday, July 6, 2023, a new model for updating real property tax (RPT) and business tax rates in the city.
The new version came about five months after Mayor Michael Rama announced that he vetoed the City Ordinance No. 138-2022 that the legislative body passed in January 2023.
The vetoed ordinance was supposed to allow the city government to update its current RPT. It was supposed to be implemented in two phases, with the first phase beginning this 2024. The mayor, however, rejected it, saying it does not reflect the city’s real worth.
READ: Rama vetoes ordinance increasing real property taxes but…
Acting City Budget Officer, Lawyer Jerone Castillo, during an online interview on Saturday, July 8, 2023, confirmed that they already transmitted their proposals for consideration for a new legislative measure, before the Office of the Vice Mayor Raymond Alvin Garcia, on Thursday.
Asked of the salient revisions of their proposed model from the vetoed ordinance, Castillo said: “[There is] no need to compare. All proposals are submitted with a singular interest to secure the best interest of the city and its people.”
“There will be upward adjustment of rates. But this will be subject to deliberation by the Sangguniang Panlungsod and a public hearing,” he added.
Castillo said they were hoping that this would be among the priorities of the city council as they would convene in the coming weeks, and hoped that everything would be passed as proposed, saying that the upward adjustments were “reasonable.”
The city’s revision of the market values for real property and the tax revenue code for business and regulatory fees is among the mechanisms of the city to generate funding for its P50 billion annual budget for 2023.
READ: How to optimize Cebu City’s tax collection: Implement ‘Sayaw para sa Buhis’
Earlier, the Executive launched the SAYAW para sa BUHIS in its bid to increase the city’s revenue through “strategic assessment of your assets and worth,” a new campaign for tax mapping which is expected to generate around P30 billion additional revenue for the city, once successful.
“Next time, we will have a board where it will be placed there everyday, how much is being generated from regular revenues and how much is generated from Sayaw sa Buhis, and how much will be generated from legislative measures, mao man nay totalon nimo (That is what you will total) plus we also have to review our contracts with private partners kay naa man na-revenue stream man pod na,” Castillo said.
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