THE Cagayan de Oro City Treasurer's Office will step up its tax collection this year and will specifically target boarding houses or establishments for rent without business permit to legally operate.
Assistant City Treasurer Engineer Leonil Mistula said for rent establishments are especially hard to trace unlike those retailers or general merchandise stores which are easy to identify with the display of products.
“Sa akong (In my own) assessment, daghan pa gyud kaayo ang walay business permit (there are still a lot of establishments without business permits), ang atong target karon is mga negosyo nga gapaabang sa ilang balay, kay lisod na sila pangitaon (our target are rental businesses because they are difficult to find) that's one of our priorities this year,” Mistula said in an interview.
This year, Mistula disclosed that the city targets a 15 to 20 percent increase of the tax collections so as to match with the P6.5 billion proposed budget.
Aside from strict tax collections, Mistula said new investors would be a big help for Cagayan de Oro in 2019.
“Ang atong target karon ma collect, as much as possible, dapat at least 15-20 percent ang atong increase sa collection (Our target is at least 15 to 20 percent increase in collection), ug makakita ta ug (and look for) new investors to achieve our target, kay kung magsalig lang ta sa atong mga existing businesses, I doubt nga maabot nato ang target na P6.5 billion (because if we only depend on our existing businesses, I doubt we can reach the P6.5 billion target),” Mistula added.
“We will work on inspections and get new investors to get a big collection for the whole year,” he said in the vernacular.
The Treasurer's Office has set the 2019 Business Permit Renewal starting Wednesday, January 3 until January 20.
The city has partnered with the SM Malls here to provide taxpayers a convenient experience in renewing their permits. The city also urged the public to try paying online through http://citytreasurer.cagayandeoro.gov.ph.