4 in every 5 cities fall behind their potential property tax collection

Four out of 5 cities in the country have fallen behind in their real property tax collections, according to the Department of Finance (DOF).

In its latest Tax Watch Ad, the DOF said only 27 of the country's 143 city governments have updated their schedule of market values (SMV).

The SMV is used to determine how much a property is worth and therefore the corresponding tax due.

Under the Local Government Code of 1991, local government units (LGUs) are required to revise their SMV and conduct a general revision of property assessments and classifications once every three years.

Failure to update the SMV means an LGU's tax collections would fail to keep up with the increase in the value of properties in its jurisdiction.

Since the real property tax is a major revenue source for the LGU, its failure to update the SMV would result in depending more on the national government -- through the so-called internal revenue allotment (IRA) -- to finance social services in the locality.

In Metro Manila alone, only the cities of Manila and Muntinlupa have updated their SMV.
The 25 other cities around the country that complied with the law are as follows: Balanga, Batangas, Binan, Bislig, Calamba, Candon, Cauayan, Digos, Escalante, Himamaylan, Iligan, Koronodal, La Carlota, Lapu-Lapu, Marawi, Masbate, Ozamis, San Pablo, Science City of Munoz, Sorsogon, Surigao, Tagum, Talisay (Cebu), Tangub, and Victorias.

Mandaue City held the record of having the most outdated SMV, which was last updated in 1991. The full list of cities and the corresponding number of years they have fallen behind in updating their SMV can be seen below:



source:  InterAksyon