Monday, November 19, 2007 Lapu City to meet tax collection target
IF IT maintains its efficiency in collecting local taxes until the end of the year, Lapu-Lapu City’s finance committee is confident to meet its P625-million income target this year.
Rolando Duero, who represents Mayor Arturo Radaza in the committee, said the taxes collected from January to August alone already reached P446.42 million
“Despite the many obstacles, including criticisms against this administration, we are confident to meet the target and it is P32 million higher than the income in year 2006,” he said. The City’s income last year was P592.90 million, not P689.6 million, he added.
Refusal
City Treasurer Elenita Catagcatag had earlier said the minimal increase in the city’s tax collection is due to the continued refusal of the Mactan-Cebu International Airport Authority (MCIAA) and Mactan Economic Zone (Mez) officials to pay taxes to the city.
She said in Mez, which begun operations in the late 1970s, the city hast already “lost” P600 million in revenues from its 900 canteens during the five-year period alone.
Intensify
As for the MCIAA, Radaza had said that the City’s collectibles from the airport would be almost a billion pesos.
Duero said the committee will again meet this week to come up with a strategy to intensify its tax collection efforts.
“Trabaho lang mi. Maningkamot ug pangolekta bisan ug sigehan ta ug saway unya awayon,” he said (We’ll just do our jobs. We’ll work hard to collect taxes even if we are criticized and are earning the ire of some).
Strength
Local taxes and the City’s share from the internal revenue allotment (IRA) indicate a local government unit’s fiscal strength.
But for the first eight months of this year, Lapu-Lapu City only saw a seven percent increase in its taxes compared to the same period last year.
Data from the city treasurer’s office showed that income from local taxes last year was P343.88 million.
It has gone up to P351.10 million this year, while its IRA has increased by 10 percent from the P249.035 million it got in 2006. (AIV)
