Payment of real property taxes pushed in MP

By Andrew Doga-ong

BONTOC, Mountain Province -- The Provincial Treasury Office here urged government employees to help advocate payment of real property taxes to generate more revenue for government operations.

Provincial Treasurer Cawed Gamonnac said government workers should take the lead in paying their real property taxes as well as encouraging  their neighbors and barrio mates to do the same.

Gamonnac said as residents of the province, it is  their  civic obligation to declare  their real properties and pay the corresponding taxes.

In efforts to boost revenue collections, personnel of the PTO initiated series of tax advocacy campaigns among municipal and barangay officials, government workers, teachers and other stakeholders to explain the importance of paying of taxes.

The tax collection progress report of the PTO showed real property taxes collected in 2014 contributed only about .3 percent of the total local revenues of the province.

Gamonnac said this is due to the very limited real property tax base noting that many residential and commercial buildings particularly in the town centers were not declared, hence they don’t pay tax to the government

Tax on real properties is one percent basic tax and another one percent for Special Education Fund (SEF) based on the assessed value of the real property.

Of the proceeds of the 1% basic tax, 35% will accrue to the general fund of the provincial government, 40% to the municipal government and 25% to the barangay government where the properties are located.

The SEF collections will be divided equally for use by the Provincial and Municipal School Boards.

Gamonnac said with continuous tax advocacy campaign, people will be convinced to have their real properties declared and pay their corresponding tax obligations.