City collections hit P3B

THE Cebu City Treasurer’s Office (CTO) has so far collected a little over P3 billion in revenues as of last week.

This includes the Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) share of Cebu City from January to August amounting to P665.81 million.

Business taxes and other receipts made up the bulk of the collections, with P1.08 billion, followed by extraordinary receipts with P567.75 million.

Extraordinary receipts consist of the payments collected from the South Road Properties (SRP), Division for the Welfare of the Urban Poor (DWUP), Slum Improvement Resettlement (SIR), Cebu City Resource Management and Development Center (Cremdec) and documentary stamps.

Real property taxes, which include garbage fees and garbage penalties, contributed P529.18 million to the collected revenues.

Economic enterprise and regulatory fees added P102.71 million and P56.87 million.
More collections

The CTO, however, needs to make at least P5.2 billion this year, the amount for the City’s 2012 budget, and probably more, since the supplemental budget 3 may be passed as well.

Acting City Treasurer Emma Villarete is confident, though, they can hit their target by intensifying their tax collection.

Villarete created at least six treasury inspectorate teams for mass inspections in the barangays even during Saturdays, Sundays and holidays.

“We will go on field to inspect the businesses in the barangays to see to it that they have complied with the requirements,” Villarete said.

The acting city treasurer clarified they will institutionalize the treasury inspectorate teams.

Assessment

Villarete, though, cannot give the exact figure of the city’s total collectibles from tax delinquencies, since she only assumed her post last month.

But Villarete said that based on the examination of books of accounts, so far, they have assessed more than P100 million collectibles in business taxes.

The acting city treasurer also instructed her tax collectors to send notices for unpaid real property taxes in the mountain barangays.

Villarete said they sent notices to delinquent taxpayers in the 21 mountain barangays, with payables amounting to P80 million.

Villarete said they are just exercising their mandate with the hope that delinquent taxpayers will settle their tax obligations. Otherwise, they will be forced to auction off their properties.