Wednesday, February 28, 2007 Manilans victims of illegal tax collection since 2000: lawmaker
FOR nearly seven years now, sales and business taxpayers in Manila have been paying a lot more than they should and they deserve no less than a refund.
This was revealed by Senator Alfredo S. Lim, who stressed that Tax Ordinance 7988, which is the basis of the prevailing tax computations, had already been declared null and void at least three times - by the Department of Justice (DOJ) on Aug. 17, 2000; by the Bureau of Local Government Finance (BLGF) in November of the same year and then finally by the Supreme Court (SC) in June 2006.
In spite of this however, the Manila City Government, through City Treasurer Liberty Toledo and licensing division chief Joseph Santiago, allegedly continued to collect taxes based on a voided ordinance thus opening themselves to administrative liability and prosecution for violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, according to Lim.
Lim also said although "tax is the lifeblood of the economy", when a tax imposition is being collected, after these had already been a judicial pronouncement that such tax ordinance is null and void then, collection of such tax virtually amounts to extortion, daylight robbery and unjust confiscation of private resources that must be stopped and its perpetrators made to answer for their glaringly unjust acts."
In February 2000, the Manila Government approved Tax Ordnance 7988 or the Revised Revenue Code of the City of Manila imposing new tax rates on the city's taxpayers and in effect repealing the existing revenue code.
The Coca-Cola Bottlers (CCB) questioned the legality of Ordinance 7988, particularly the deletion of Section 21 which states that "all registered businesses in the city of Manila that are already paying taxes shall be exempted from payment thereof" and which, in effect, imposes additional taxes on businesses.
In his Aug. 17, 2000 resolution, then Justice Secretary Artemio Tuquero declared that Tax Ordinance 7988 null and void and without any legal effect for the failure of those implementing it to have the ordinance published in full for three consecutive days in a newspaper of general circulation as mandated by the Local Government Code (LGC) of 1991. Tuquero's resolution lapsed into finality when the respondents did not file a motion for reconsideration or lodge an appeal.
On Nov. 16, 2000, Attorney Leonardo Aurelio wrote to the BLGF requesting in behalf of his client - Singer Sewing Machine - an opinion if Manila has the right to enforce the questioned ordinance despite Tuquero's resolution. The BLGF, in response, issued an endorsement on Nov. 20, 2000 ordering the city treasurer of Manila to stop enforcing Tax Ordinance 7988 as the BLGF cited Section 190 of the LGC which states that the enforcement of any revenue measures after due notice of the disapproval or suspension thereof shall be sufficient ground for administrative disciplinary action against the local officials and employees responsible.
On June 27, 2006, the SC sustained the decision earlier by Tuquero.
The Manila City Government allegedly defied the opinions and continued assessing the CCB based on the tax rates prescribed under the nullified tax ordinance so that the CCB filed a complaint with the Manila Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 21 to stop the City Government from implementing the ordinance. The RTC, in its Nov. 28, 2001 decision, reiterated the findings of Secretary Tuquero.
Lim lamented that property and business establishment owners and even the taxpayers in general are being subjected to "undue injury" by Manil city officials.
"Those city officials have no reason to boast of and take pride in saying that they had increased the revenues of the city just because they succeeded in collecting taxes despite the declaration of the nullity of the tax ordinances upon which they had based their authority to collect," the senator said.
"On the contrary, they (city officials) had in fact unjustly made and caused Manilans to endure the burden of shouldering illegal tax impositions and this daylight robbery must be stopped. The people of Manila have already suffered a lot and must be spared from further suffering by discontinuing the collection of taxes under the voided ordinance," he added. (CPB/Sunnex)
