Ifugao exceeds 2011 revenue collection

LAGAWE, Ifugao – The improved tax collection efficiency of the provincial government last year has resulted to the generation of substantial funds which could be used to bankroll the implementation of various development projects and enhance the delivery of basic services to the people,” Samuel Marinay, provincial treasurer, said.

Marinay said that their record on local tax collection showed a great increase on real property tax, property transfer taxes and on sales revenue of the goods and products of the provincial government.

“The trend of the times is for local governments to venture on additional sources of local revenue in order to generate more funds that could be used to fund development projects and enhance the delivery of basic services without relying on funds from the national government. Our success in collecting taxes last year will serve as a challenge for us to further improve our tax collection efficiency and help bring Ifugao to greater heights in terms of more development projects,” he said.

He said although there is a poor performance in the collection of business taxes, this is not enough to affect the overall actual total collection that exceeded their target for 2011.

The Financial Statement showed that the PTO collected P8,619,287.06 in real property taxes compared to its target of P8 million for a collection efficiency of 108%; P423,626.52 in property transfer taxes from a target of P250,000.00 for a collection efficiency of 169%; P991,357.22 in taxes on sand and gravel from a target of P600,000.00 for a collection efficiency of 165%; P251,205.00 in taxes on delivery trucks and vans from the target of P150,000.00 for a 167% collection efficiency; P60,060.00 in professional tax against the target of P60,000.00 for a 100% collection efficiency, and others bringing a total of P10,376,388.05 of local taxes actually collected against their estimated target of P9,111,000.00 for a total collection efficiency of 114% in 2011.

Marinay said that the overwhelming increase in local taxes collected is partly due to the payment of three large companies of their delinquent property taxes to the province which Ifugao was able to collect upon their issuance of warrants of levy to settle their tax obligations.

He expects that this collection will still increase this year because there are still two more large companies with unsettled delinquent real property taxes which are pending settlement amounting to more millions of pesos.

Meanwhile, Marinay reported that the local tax collection on business for 2011 was measly P6,746,389.83 from the target of P9,125,000.00 for a poor collection efficiency of 74%. This he said may due to lesser business activities.

The other sources of income of Ifugao for 2011 include P21,044,963.52 for total service income with a collection efficiency of 103%; P941,364.70 for sales revenue with a collection efficiency of 116%; P121,475.00 for permits and licenses with a collection efficiency of 152% and other income at P456,227,556.97 of which P444,975,306.00 constitute the internal revenue allotment (IRA) for 2011 for the province bringing the general income of the province to a total of P495,336,663.07 in 2011 against its overall general income target of P491,824,306.00 or a collection efficiency of 101%.