City's tax collection nears P1B mark in H1

DAVAO City's local tax collection for the first semester this year has already reached to almost a billion peso mark, representing 75 percent of the city's total collection in 2011.

Data furnished to Sun.Star Davao from the office of the acting City Administrator Zuleika Lopez showed that the city's tax collected as of June 30 is pegged at P984,264,247.80, which is already 75 percent of the P1,309,094,976.10 total tax collection recorded last year.

Lopez said she is confident the city will exceed last year's collection generated from local taxes and other income-generating initiatives of the City Hall, including city-owned enterprises.

For the second semester of this year, the city sets a conservative target of P381,469,952.16 to be collected from local taxes.

"The City Government will ensure that targets will not only be met, but also surpassed," Lopez said.

Large chunk of the city's tax collection for this year was generated from business taxes amounted to P559,715,207.04, representing 56 percent of the city's revenue collected from local taxes for the first semester of this year.

For the entire 2011, the city has collected a total of P767,691,913.95 from business taxes alone.

The city also collected a total of P297,820,111.81 from current and prior real property tax, combined. (JOP)