MAKATI Mayor Abigail S. Binay reported on Monday there was a 9-percent increase in total revenues compared to the same period last year. Binay also expressed confidence the city will exceed its 2018 revenue target with the Makati’s total revenue collections reaching P12.09 billion in the first six months of the year, or 77 percent of the full-year target.
The highest collection came from business tax with P6.17 billion, which topped last year’s figure by 12 percent. Real property tax came in second with P4.4 billion, or a 5.5-percent increase over last year. Other local revenue sources for the said period included “fees and charges” with P541.87 million and “economic enterprises” with P121.34 million.
Revenue collected from other sources included interest income (P134.82 million), Internal Revenue Allotment or IRA (P569.04 million), share from economic zones (P138.35 million) and share from the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. and the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (P3.48 million).
Moreover, Acting City Treasurer Jesusa Cuneta’s report to the mayor also showed the city as of end-June has attained 71 percent of its target for business tax and 96 percent of its target for real-property tax.
The attainment rates for the other revenue sources are as follows: fees and charges, 85 percent; economic enterprise, 52 percent; interest income, 81 percent; and, IRA, 50 percent.
“We are optimistic that we will surpass our revenue target for the year and collect more than the 23-percent balance for the remainder of the year,” Binay said. “We thank our dutiful taxpayers for fulfilling their part in city-building by promptly paying the correct taxes.”
The mayor also welcomed some 2,321 new businesses that have been issued permits by the Business Permit and Licensing Office from January to June of this year.
“We thank you for choosing Makati to invest in and set up your business ventures,” Binay said. “You can rest assured that the city government is doing everything in its power to sustain a conducive environment for your businesses to prosper.”
Makati remains one of a few local government units in the country that are not dependent on the IRA.
Meanwhile, the city’s BPLO has also reported a total of 33,541 business permit renewals during the first six months of the year.
Recently, the Commission on Audit (COA) rendered an “unqualified opinion” in its Annual Audit Report for the City of Makati for calendar year 2017—a first for the city.
Based on a summary published in the official web site of the COA dating back to 2007, Makati had received its “qualified opinion” in 2007 and from 2010 up to 2016.
In auditing parlance, an unqualified opinion means that financial statements conform to Generally Accepted Accounting Principles and that they fairly represent the entity’s
financial accounts.
In 2017 the city posted a two-digit increase in revenue collections for the first time in 12 years. Its gross revenue collections reached P16.97 billion or 116 percent of its full-year target and 12 percent more than the 2016 collections.