City exec denies tax code caused business closures

PERMITS and Licensing Division head Vicente Petierre III said there were business establishments in Bacolod that have closed shop but not due to the revised Revenue Code.

Based on their records regarding new businesses that have opened and those that have transferred or closed by reason of the increase in business tax rates, he has not seen any semblance.

Their records show that from January to June 2011, there were only 714 new businesses that opened compared to 1,770 new businesses that opened this year covering the same period.

There were only 1,341 new businesses that opened for the whole year of 2011, he added.

He said this means to say that for the six months period the new businesses that opened this year were more compared to the whole year of 2011.

This shows that more businesses opened in Bacolod City this year, said Pitierre.

“This is official because these establishments applied for business permits and were issued one,” he said.

Meanwhile, Petierre said the total business that closed or retired from January to June 2012 were 425 compared to 417 covering the same period last year.

He said these are not big businesses but are small ones like parlors, bed spacers, common carrier that have few units, carinderia, sari-sari stores, RTW, internet and gaming.

He said they encouraged them to file for closure because they are aware that if they do not file for business closure, their surcharges will become bigger.

He said whether or not they increased business taxes this year had nothing to do with these businesses that closed.

He said they have interviewed the owners of these businesses and not one of them said that they closed their businesses due to the increase in business taxes.

On the other hand, most of them said their business did not "click," he said. “It had nothing to do with the business taxes but is more on the marketing and management side.” (CNC)