THE proposed tax increase in Quezon City will not hurt real-property owners, an official, who described it as minimal and equivalent to a cellular telephone user’s one-month budget for sending short messaging system or text messages, said.
Sherry Gonzalvo, chief legal officer of the Office of the City Assessor, said the city government took efforts to cushion the impact of the tax adjustments to the city residents, particularly owners of residential properties.
“We spend around P200 to P300 a month for texting and phone calls, and that’s the average rate every property owner has to pay when we implement the new schedule of fair market values,” Gonzalvo said.
For instance, she said a property owner who has a 100-square-meter residential lot, classified as Residential 4 (RA4), used to pay P675 annual real-property tax (RPT) based on an 18-percent assessment level and a fair market value of P150,000.
Under the proposed tax hike, the land’s fair market value will be increased to P800,000, but the assessment level will be reduced to only 5 percent. The property owner’s new annual RPT rate will be adjusted to only P1,000, or a difference of mere P325.
“That is equivalent to a text message or one meal at a burger house,” she said.
According to Gonzalvo, after a thorough study and in consideration of the plight of the property owners, the Office of the City Assessor further lowered the original 18 percent down to 5 percent, from the proposed 10-percent level.
“If we settled at 10-percent [assessment level], the RPT increase will be as much as P2,700, and that’s burdensome. We will not increase tax that much,” she said.
The additional revenue the city government will be able to collect will fund more sociodevelopment programs and projects for the 3 million residents of Quezon City. Under the auspices of the Committee on Ways and Means of the city council, the Office of the City Assessor has been conducting public consultations in the barangays to discuss to the city residents Proposed Ordinance 20CC-141 and hear out their feedbacks and comments.
The draft legislation sets the revised schedule of fair market values of land and basic construction cost for buildings in the city as mandated by Section 219 of Republic Act (RA) 7160, or the 1991 Local Government Code.
Earlier the Commission on Audit (COA), through State Auditor Rose de la Cruz, has sent communications to the city government urging the revision of the city’s land and property values, which, the agency noted, have not been revised over the years, “thus, invariably affecting the real- property administration system.”
It said Quezon City last revised its fair market value in November 29, 1995, through Ordinance SP-348, which underwent several amendments until May 26, 2005, through the passage of Ordinance SP-1032.
In addition, the Department of Finance also issued Joint Memorandum Circular (JMC) 2010-01 enjoining all local government units to implement Section 219 (General Revision of Assessments and Property Classification) of RA 7160, concerning the revision of property assessments and classification every three years.
Public hearings are ongoing. So far, the hearings have been conducted in Bahay Toro, Project 8; Batasan Hills, Barangay NS Amoranto, Barangay Holy Spirit, Barangay Loyola Heights and Barangay San Roque, and at the Session Hall of the Quezon City Hall.