Thursday, November 06, 2008 Town council passes tax code on 2nd reading
SAN SIMON -- The Municipal Council here has approved upon second reading the proposed revised local revenue code, which aims to "upgrade" the collection of local taxes despite the point made by its presiding officer that "another public hearing is needed."
Voting 10-0, the SB last Monday approved upon second reading a resolution revising the local revenue code of this second-class municipality in a bid to increase its tax revenues. The code was last revised some 14 years ago.
Council presiding officer Vice Mayor David Dalisay said "it is a mystery" how the resolution was approved at the second reading since he had already adjourned the session, citing that another public hearing was needed to invite "all concerned sectors."
The vice mayor said the recent public hearing conducted by Councilor Dading Santos, chairman of the committee on Finance, "was not well informed," citing that other concerned sectors like the transport, labor, market, farmers, religious and others were not represented.
"I'm not going against this resolution. What I want is for this to undergo the legal process. This means we will have an honest-to-goodness public hearing where all sectors concerned are invited and they can air their questions, opinions and inquiry regarding the proposed revised local revenue code," Dalisay said.
He added that as presiding officer of the Council, it is his duty and mandate to see to it that proper procedures are observed during the regular session.
However, Santos said the session was "continued" by the Council, saying he presided over the regular session after the presiding officer "left the session hall."
He said since 1994, the local revenue code of this town "has been at a stand still," saying that 14 years have passed and still no "upgrade" on the tax collection has been made.
"Our town is still second class but the people's needs are growing. We must deliver basic services to the people and one way of doing this is to increase our tax collection, because we're sure to give them back in form of service," Santos added.
Eligio Santos, president of the Senior Citizens of Barangay San Jose said more consultation is needed before the Council would approve on the third and final reading the said resolution, saying he fears the raising of taxes would also affect the elderly.
"In my opinion, it not yet the right time to increase the taxes because the rich will not be the ones who will be taxed but also poor people like us. Life is already too hard and it will become harder if they will collect higher taxes from senior citizens, as we are not 100-percent exempted from paying taxes. (CN)
