2-YEAR LEEWAY: City Hall mulls 40 percent cut in real property tax

By Rjay Zuriaga Castor

Did City Hall just buckle to public opinion and pressure?

To give elbow room to the sudden increase in real property tax (RPT) starting 2024, the city government of Iloilo is poised to allow taxpayers to only pay 60 percent of the new RPT schedules on land in the next two years.

This means that taxpayers will receive a 40 percent discount on their RPT payments for land over a two-year period (2024 to 2025), with the full 100 percent payment set to take effect in 2026.

The decision to voluntarily reduce the real property tax was in response to numerous inquiries the city government received regarding the significant increase in the RPT.

“This is in view of the many inquiries we are getting on the increase in RPT. We discussed the matter at hand, and decided that to the best interest of the public, the taxpayers will only pay 60% taxes on land properties based on the new market values for two years,” Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas.

The proposed reduction was decided following a meeting with City Administrator Melchor Tan, City Assessor Cesar Jalbuena Jr., City Treasurer Jinny Hermano, and Executive Assistant Nelson Parreño on Tuesday, January 2.

The city government announced that the proposed reduction would necessitate an amendment to its real property tax ordinance through the city council.

Excess payments from taxpayers will be considered as tax credits for the next few years by the City Treasurer’s Office, according to Hermano.

The city mayor emphasized that the Mandanas-Garcia Ruling of the Supreme Court in 2018 has allowed the city government to collect from other tax collecting agencies aside from the “national internal revenue taxes” collected by the Bureau of Internal Revenue.

“The revenue raised from taxation is vital for our operations especially now that there are devolved functions to the local government due to the Mandanas-Garcia ruling; and to finance our various programs and projects,” he said.

The increase in real estate property taxes in the city that will take effect this year is the first increase since 2006.

Treñas previously said that no increase was imposed in the last 18 years since the city government has enough revenue to deliver public services and sustain the city’s economic sustainability.

“Ang real property tax, napilitan kita magpasaka because of the Mandanas ruling plus gindownload na sang iban pa nga departments ang mga ginahatag nila sa aton. For 18 years waay kita nagpasaka because at that time daw sufficient man aton nga pondo,” he said in a press conference on  Thursday, December 21.

[The real property tax, we were compelled to increase because of the Mandanas ruling, plus other departments have downloaded their obligations to us. For 18 years, we haven’t increased because funds seemed sufficient.]