THE Bureau of Local Government Finance (BLGF) of the Department of Finance has recognized acting Cebu City Treasurer Veronica Morelos for exceeding the city’s tax collection targets for 2017.
In 2017, the City collected P2.8 billion in taxes, of which P1.8 billion was from business taxes and around P1 billion for real property taxes.
Morelos said they only targeted to collect around P2.6 billion last year.
Cebu City has around 33,000 business establishments.
Morelos said the bigger tax collected last year was due to the efforts to run after those establishments with no business permits and the updates they made for real properties in the city.
“We have massive collection of business taxes and inspection of books, and those delinquent taxpayers were given notices,” Morelos said.
The City Treasurer’s Office (CTO) also conducted tax mapping as early as in February this year and inspected some barangays in the city to make sure that those who are doing business have secured the necessary permits.
Earlier, Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña issued several closure orders to business establishments that were not compliant with the law.
Morelos said they hope to meet their 2018 target collection.
The CTO is targeting a higher collection in local taxes for next year compared to the P3.1 billion estimated collection this year.
The bulk of the expected local tax collection of the CTO by 2019 will come from the business taxes, which are expected to reach close to P2 billion. RVC